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ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 



0^ THE FIELD OF HO!?(pR 

A COLLECTION OF WAR LETTERS AND REMINISCENCES 

OF THREE HARVARD UNDERGRADUATES 

WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN 

THE GREAT CAUSE 



^ 



EDITED BY PAUL B. ELLIOTT 



BOSTO^N^ 

PRINTED FOR THEIR FRIENDS 
1920 



Copyright^ 1920, by Paul B. Elliott 







^0 



D. B, Updike^ The Merrymount Press, Boston 



'C!,AS76563 






TO THE MEMORY 

OF THREE BRAVE COMRADES 

LIEUTENANTS FRANCIS REED AUSTIN 

ALBERT EDGAR ANGIER 

AND 

EUGENE GALLIGAN 

ALL FALLEN GLORIOUSLY ON 

THE FIELD OF BATTLE 

THIS BOOK 

IS AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED 



INTRODUCTION 

IT was my good fortune to be one of that small group 
of Harvard undergraduates who left college at the 
close of 1917 to enlist as privates in the National 
Army and attend the Third Officers' Training School at 
Camp Upton. Our thoughts and actions at college for the 
preceding year had had but one aim, to get into the service 
at the earliest possible moment, but until then we had all 
been prevented on account of our youth. 

All of these men I had known at college, some fairly 
well, others only slightly, but in the life that followed I 
came to know especially well and to form the closest 
comradeship with three of them, Albert Angier, Francis 
Austin, and Eugene Galligan. Our life in the Officers' 
Training School passed quickly and happily enough until 
towards the close of March, 1918, when the Seventy- 
Seventh Division received its overseas orders. The school 
came to an abrupt close: men from the division were sent 
back to the ranks, some with the uncertain recommenda- 
tion that they were eligible to receive the commission of 
second lieutenant when the War Department should see 
fit to grant it; others with nothing at all. The compara- 
tively few men from college, of course, could not be or- 
dered directly to the division, as they had not previously 
belonged to it. We were summoned privately, one by 
one, to the Commandant's Office, and given the choice 

C vii J 



IJVTROT> UCTIOIS^ 

of staying in America with the probability of receiving a 
commission very shortly, or of going overseas with the 
division as privates with great uncertainty as to when, if 
ever, we would receive our commissions. Nothing was 
promised, nothing, in fact, known for a certainty. To the 
great credit of the boys it can be said that practically all 
volunteered to go over without the keenly hoped-for and 
long-sought commissions; getting nearer to the scene of 
action where our services might be of some value was the 
first consideration. So when the school broke up we were 
assigned to different companies in the division. 

Austin, Angier, Galligan, and myself were fortunate in 
being assigned to the same battalion of the 305th. Gene 
was in Company B, Larry in Company D, and Al and I 
were together in Company C. Here we learned to pocket 
our pride, keep our mouths shut, and do what we could 
to help things in general, though apparently nothing was 
expected of us. We were mere odd numbers and the 
company organizations all complete without us. 

The day for sailing soon came ; we were packed in be- 
low decks in the cargo hold of the good ship " Vauban," 
and considered ourselves lucky in getting off to France 
after only three months and a half in the service. Arriv- 
ing overseas at the end of April, we spent the next two 
months and a half in the dull grind of military training, 
performing the simple duties of private or corporal or 

[ viii ] 



IJV'TROT>UCTI(yiS^ 

sergeant as best we could, and always hoping the com- 
missions would arrive. What an interminable wait it was 
and how often we were disappointed! Finally, however, 
they "came through," and on Bastile Day we were all 
sworn in as Second Lieutenants of the National Army. 
The commissions reached us just as we were to go into 
real action, thus bringing with them all the responsibilities 
and cares of handling men's lives in battle, but without 
any of the pleasant features which a commissioned officer 
enjoys in a period of training and preparation in camp or 
behind the lines. 

• The sad part about being commissioned was that we 
had to separate: Al and Gene stayed with the 77th, and 
Larry and I went to the 28th Division. It was a coinci- 
dence again that Al and Gene were together in the same 
battalion of the 308th and Larry and 1 in the second bat- 
talion of the 109th. 

After a happy week in Paris which, unfortunately, those 
who stayed with the 77th Division were denied, Larry and 
I reported to our new division just as it was going into 
action in the counter-attack which flattened the Rheims- 
Soissons salient. We had been with the 109th for about 
two weeks, when Larry was ordered back to the special- 
ists' school at Langes. 

It was during the early part of September, 1 91 8, in the 
fierce fighting in which our division and the 77th partici- 



IA^TROT>UCTIO'\^ 

pated along" the \'osle River and near Fisnies, that Angior 
and Galliiran were killed within a week of each other, at 
the head oi' their men, eneouraiiinir and leadinir them 
against heavy odds, outnumbered, but driving" back the 
Boche even as thev tell. 

Larrv returned to the division just before we started 
the push on the 'Jd'th o( September in the Ai-gonne. It 
was mighty rough sledding", but we managed to keep the 
Hun on the go toward the rear. On the ninth dav out, 
Larrv and I were holding" a position along a sunken road 
just bevond Apremont, our men huddling" together in the 
same little "fox holes." About noon Larry had an order 
to move his men forward and occupy an outpost about 
live hundred yards to the flank a!ui front. \\'e parted 
with the expectation o( seeing each other in a day or so 
at most. That night the Boche kept us under a continual 
lx">mbardment of gas-shells which there was no escaping, 
and the sura^eon ordered many of my company evacuated 
to hospitals in the rear for treatment. I was sent to Bor- 
deaux, and while there had several letters from l^irrv 
and was very glad to hear that he came through the drive 
untouched. 

I persuaded the doctors to let me out o( the hospital 
the first o( November and hastened back to the outfit, 
eager to see and be with them again and es["vecially anx- 
ious to iiet with Larrv once more. Arrivinir at the io«-)th 

r X 1 



IJ^TROT>UCTIO%^ 

shortly after the armistice, I was terribly grieved to hear 
that Larry had been seriously wounded that last fateful 
morning while operating his guns against a heavily de- 
fended German position. He was rushed back to a hos- 
pital, but the wound was fatal and medical aid could not 
save him. So Larry and Al and Gene, all in the full vigor 
and flush of their youth, bravely met heroes' deaths with- 
out hesitation, giving their all that the cause of Justice, 
of Freedom, and of Right might prevail. 

In getting this book together I have a two-fold pur- 
pose. One is to give a continued account, mostly through 
letters written home, of the life lived from the time we 
left Camp Upton for overseas until the end. My main pur- 
pose is to attempt to show the wonderful characters of 
these three men, how bravely and fully they met every 
test under the worst possible conditions, and what an in- 
spiration they were to all with whom they came in con- 
tact. I shall try to do this as much as possible by letting 
their own words in their letters speak for themselves, 
adding at times some of my own letters which tell of 
mutual experiences that their letters do not relate. 

I think that very few who did not actually see active 
service can appreciate the influence of the leader of even 
so small a unit as a platoon. Everything depends upon 
him. His men exactly reflect his attitude, and succeed or 
fail in proportion as he inspires confidence and is in every 



IJsrTRODUCTIO'^ 

sense a true leader. Larry and Al and Gene always had 
their men with them; they were implicitly trusted and 
followed anywhere. Such trust, confidence, and respect 
of men under the trying conditions of war can be won 
only by the exercise of justice, fairness, consideration for 
men, fearlessness in doing the right thing regardless of 
favor or personal consequences, courage and promptness 
to act, and a cheery attitude despite difficulties and hard- 
ships. But these three had more than the confidence of 
their men: they had their love and devotion, which the 
soldier gives only when he realizes that his officer does 
more than merely honorably perform his duty ; when the 
men recognize in their leader a finer quality than that of 
the ordinary man, and know him as one to whom they 
may look up, as pure of soul, clean in mind, always giving 
his best to others regardless of self. 

My hope, as I prepare this book, is that those who read 
it will receive inspiration from the high, noble lives of 
these three young officers. p. b. e. 



[ xii : 



ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 




V \ 




S/ht/itt[' J^/lfif/. iii.ifitt 



CHAPTER I 

JUST as the sun shone above the eastern horizon one 
cold morning on the 14th of April, the company 
fell in and formed with the battalion and regiment 
for the first step of our long journey toward France and 
action. The night before, after all preparations for depar- 
ture were complete. Camp Upton had been in an uproar 
of hilarity and enthusiasm ; bands of soldiers went from 
one barrack to another singing farewell songs and cheer- 
ing the different companies. Signs hastily painted such as 
"To Let. Apply in France," '* Vacant, Owner on European 
Tour,"*' For Sale, Apply Proprietor, No Man's Land," 
were hung on the barracks, fun-making and care-free 
abandonment were everywhere apparent. The morning 
of the 14th was very different: all were quiet and thought- 
ful, we quickly took our places in line keen to be off at 
last, and realizing that not far ahead lay a task bigger and 
more serious than any of us had ever tackled in our lives 
before, a test which would demand of each man great sac- 
rifices, just howgreat noneknew, — perhaps the greatest. 
The march to the station was made in almost com- 
plete silence entirely free of the chaff, joking, and chatter 
which usually comes from a marching column. A long 
train drawn up at the station awaited us and we started, 
all without the least idea of the port from which w^e 
were to embark. Rumors flew thick: Halif^ix, Boston, 

c 3 3 



OIS^THE FI8LD OF HOliOR 

New York, Hampton Roads, Montreal, these and many 
other less probable points were suggested, but a two 
hours' ride brought us to Hoboken and after a short hike 
down by the piers and an interminable standing in line, 
we filed, one by one, up a long gangplank into the ship 
that was to carry us across. 

During the next day our ship, the " Vauban," British 
owned, which had just been requisitioned as a troop ship 
from her South American traffic, stayed in dock com- 
pleting her loading. We were assigned quarters more or 
less comfortable; a few were lucky in getting staterooms 
but most had hammocks slung above the tables where 
we ate our meals down in the former cargo holds of the 
ship. They were all right as long as smooth weather 
allowed the hatches to be kept open, assuring a good sup- 
ply of fresh air, but rather disagreeable in rough weather. 
Fortunately the sea was extremely calm with the excep- 
tion of two days toward the close of the trip. The second 
night on board found us still tied at the dock with loading 
and coaling going on full force, but by the morning of 
the i6th everything seemed in readiness for the start. 

About two o'clock the decks were cleared, every one 
ordered inside, and with doors and port-holes closed and 
empty decks our ship slowly nosed its way about and 
steamed out of port. We stayed below decks for about 
two hours, until beyond sight of land, and then came on 

C 4 ] 



CHATTE1(^I 

deck to find ourselves alone on the high seas nosing our 
way steadily eastward in the fading light of a beautiful 
spring dusk. 

For the first five days our trip was without incident; 
we picked up our convoy according to schedule two days 
out. The troops were busy at drill and life-boat practice. 
All went smoothly. On the sixth day we ran into a heavy 
sea and storm which blew itself out after tossing us about 
for a couple of days. 

As we approached and entered the danger-zone excite- 
ment ran high. Some of us rather wanted to see a real 
live submarine in action, for we had confidence that the 
seven speedy little English destroyers which darted 
around and in and out our convoy would **get" the sub 
before she could launch a torpedo. The officers had been 
congratulating themselves that if there were any subma- 
rines about, our convoy was too well guarded for them 
to venture an attack, but one clear calm morning, when 
we were still a two days* trip from the coast of Ireland, a 
U-boat lay in wait. 

Drill was over for the morning and the men were 
idling about on deck waiting for noon chow. Al and I had 
just finished instructing our signal class and were sitting 
on the boat deck chatting with a couple of French non- 
coms who had been instructing in the States. 

A dull boom followed by a great blow on the side of 

C 5 ] 



Ol^THE FI8LD OF HO'T^OR 

our ship which made her quiver and shake from keel to 
mast-top as though a giant had picked her up and shaken 
her, suddenly disturbed our calm. The bugle from the 
bridge sounded the alarm and we all rushed to the sta- 
tions assigned in boat drill. I remember my first thought 
as I ran down was, *' Guess they got us." The leading de- 
stroyer had just crossed our bow a few seconds before the 
explosion occurred and now exhibited a wonderful bit of 
manoeuvring. Instantly she turned, putting on full speed 
as she went, so that in describing a semicircle in little more 
than her own length, her decks tipped away at an angle 
of almost 40 degrees, just as a motorcycle would tip in 
speeding around a banked curve. She shot by us gather- 
ing headway all the time; water and spray rising in great 
white sheets from her prow at times completely envel- 
oped her. We heard the whistle pipe and saw her crew, 
stripped to the waist, swarm out of the hatchways and 
spring to the gun-stations. A little beyond us geysers of 
water rose high into the air as her gunners fired depth- 
bombs from the destroyer's stern. Of course the convoy 
never stopped, but went on, leaving the destroyers be- 
hind to complete their work. 

By this time we began to think that perhaps we had n't 
been torpedoed after all and wondered what it was all 
about. It later developed that the first great crash which 
we all thought was a torpedo striking the " Vauban" was 

[ 6 ] 



CHATTET^T 

a depth charge that the destroyer had fired when the ever 
watchful eyes on her bridge had seen a periscope broach 
not three hundred yards from our ship. This charge ex- 
ploded so near us that the concussion was sufficient to 
shake the whole ship as though she had been actually 
torpedoed. The sub had immediately dived before she 
had a chance to get in any dirty work, but not before the 
destroyers were on her like hounds in at the " death." A 
half hour later when the leading destroyer steamed past 
to resume her station at the head of the convoy, they wig- 
wagged from the bridge that there was one more U-boat 
whose evil career had been ended. 

Two days later we landed in Liverpool, boarded a troop 
train, and had a wonderful ride across England to the rest 
camp at Dover. 

l^From this point t/w letters ivill carry on the story. The writej's 
initials come at the end of each letter or extract from his letters.^ 



C 7 1 



CHAPTER II 

April 28 

IT is all so wonderful I hardly know where to begin. 
It is really Spring here already. The apple blossoms 
are out and everything is green and fresh. There are the 
most wonderful gardens and meadows with sheep and 
cattle grazing everywhere. As it is such a lovely warm 
Sunday afternoon people are all dressed up walking 
around their estates, and down by the brooks soldiers 
walking with their girls. It is too beautiful to realize it 
is war. But the spirit as we go flying by, — everywhere 
they wave their handkerchiefs, American flags, and the 
girls smile and throw kisses. 

The fellows I have in my squad are the smallest in 
the company, but they are wonderful to be with. Three 
Italians sing softly some of their Italian songs and they 
have splendid voices. The others are from the real coun- 
try and it gives me a thrill when they show me the pic- 
tures of their home and family and the love you see in 
their eyes for their mothers. I would be perfectly happy 
if I could be right here with them and help them keep 
that finest of all spirits, but one can never tell the desti- 
nies of War. 

If you could see the trusting women and children wav- 
ing at us, you would be happy that we decided tliat to 
enlist was the thing to do. I have a little book of Brown- 

[8 ] 



CHA'PTEI^II 

ing's poems in my pocket and some day when I feel blue 
after cussing at the men to make them work, I am plan- 
ning to get away from the commotion and read them 
right through from beginning to end. 

Here is a little piece of poetry I found written on one 
of the walls of the buildings : 

It may be only a handshake^ 
It may be only a smile^ 
But if it makes life sweeter 
Surely it is -worth the -while. 

F. R. A. 

^A Letter written on train-ride across England) 

April 29 

It is late afternoon as we fly along, but the sun is still 
high in the heavens. Everywhere women, children, and 
young girls wave flags and throw kisses. It gives one a 
wonderful feeling that the spirit of all is with us, and that 
we are needed here much more than anywhere else 
in the world. I certainly agree with Moush that I would 
rather be a private over here than a Major in the U. S. 

Al Angier is still along with me which of course makes 
it very nice. But it is the best fun of all to explain to my 
squad about this war and the countries and the principles 
they are fighting for and trying to answer all kinds of 
questions that come flying at me every minute. 

F. R. A. 

[ 9 ■} 



OlS^THE FIELD OF HO'^R 

zJMay 2 
There is not much news. I am here to make good, and 
we begin about to-morrow our intensive training so that 
in about a month or so we can really serve our country 
even though it be in a small way. Please always remem- 
ber I am just where I want most to be and where I am 
really learning war, where the need is greatest, and I 
hope you are as happy as I am here as an enlisted man. 
I have grown very fond of my company, its officers 
and my country. By my company I mean the men, and 
now I realize what several of my college friends have 
told me, — *' the worst of being an officer is that you want 
to help the men in every possible way, but Discipline is 
the barrier which keeps you from associating with them 
and knowing their feelings, troubles, and character." 

F. R. A. 

Quarter of five in the afternoon sitting side of a little 
brook with birds and flowers everywhere, with nothing 
anywhere to make you think of War or Sadness. You 
would love France, you would love the country people, 
you would just love to walk on and on alone through the 
fields of daisies, buttercups, violets, clover, dandelions, 
and a hundred other pink and white wild flowers I have 
never seen before. 

[ JO ] 



CHA^TE%^II 

Fifty of us sleep in a big barn full of hay. The barn 
belongs to the most delightful old lady and her husband. 
There are some wonderful children, a little girl about 
eight and two little boys about eight and ten. We are 
great friends already, and you can imagine what a change 
it is after a day's hike or drill to come into a home, where 
for a few cents you can get a cup of coffee, a couple of 
eggs, and a wonderful sleep, and best of all be with such 
loving and hospitable people. How long this heaven will 
last I don't know, but a farm in the Spring with gardens 
and meadows everywhere is my idea of something pretty 
fine. And the best part of it all is that it shows some of 
our men that every man in France has been off to the 
War for four years, fighting to protect his little home or 
farm and his little children. I showed them the pictures 
of my family and gave the kids some chocolate from 
America. This afternoon I took a walk, stopping in at the 
little farms and talking to the housewives and their chil- 
dren ; sometimes there would be an old man working in 
the garden. I would give anything in the world to know 
French well but at present I have to talk slowly and con- 
cerning very simple things. They are so wonderful, just 
like our own farmers, and none of them have visited the 
big cities but just live winter and summer in this beautiful 
Paradise. f. r. a. 



aiS^THE FISLD OF HO^R 

J^lay 6 

1 awoke in the morning to find it pouring rain. We 
waded up to breakfast, a quarter of a mile in the rain and 
I got a chance to look at our billets. 

We were in a well-built stable with plenty of fairly 
clean straw on the floor, opening on a barnyard where 
a sadly bedraggled peacock, many hens and ducks, and 
a few cows w^ere moseying around. We were, in a word, 
in billets. , 

Since then we have become settled and very comfort- 
able. The peacock spreads his wonderful tail for me often. 
The sun shines almost continuously and we are all very 
happy. 

The country is very peaceful and quiet, — War very 
far away except when the big guns, far in the distance, 
begin their evening bombardment which comes to us as 
a dull rumble like thunder. 

Everything is wonderful and fine. Remember you 
must not worry. I am still disgracefully safe and sound. 

E. G. 

(JMay 6 
I can't tell you in writing how wonderful the country 
sections of France are, and to-day if you would only pic- 
ture the small farm-houses and fields and flowers, you 
would wonder how there can be such a thing as war. But 

C >2 ] 



CHATTE%^n 

when you stop to think, it would be the finest thing in the 
world to help protect the farms and the hospitable lovable 
peasants. 

We are billeted in a great big barn which belongs to 
an old French peasant. His wife is so sweet and lovable. 
She cooks us coffee over an open hearth fire and gives 
us all the eggs we can possibly stow away, and when we 
come in hungry and the army mess isn't ready on time, 
she wants to share the bread and butter she provides for 
the family. If I don't accomplish a single other thing over 
here, I am going to show these people that we are their 
friends and allies, and do all I can to make the men respect 
them and in no way take advantage of them. 

F. R. A. 

oJMay 7 
Every day is a joy because after finishing the drill I 
come back to a wonderful home and a little girl aged eight 
runs out to welcome me, and I eat my supper out under 
the blooming fruit trees and then a little walk thru the 
fields, she pointing out the flowers and birds and teaching 
me the names. It makes me forget war, and every even- 
ing I hit the hay the happiest man in France, — warm 
beautiful sunsets and love for all the world. f. r. a. 



[■ 13 J 



O'^^THE FIELD OF H01{0R 

{Second Letter after landing in France) 

Somewhere in France 
No date 

For a while we were camped outside of a fairly good 
sized French city, and here I think I saw one of the most 
wonderful and impressive sights I ever hope to see. 
Hundreds of soldiers of all nationalities walked through 
the streets, all gathered together fighting for one cause. 
There were English, French, Belgians, Italians, Austra- 
lians, and New Zealanders, and of course Americans, all 
mingling. Take it from me it sure thrilled. About all ex- 
cept the Americans had seen fighting and many, espe- 
cially the older men, looked like hardened old veterans. 

The town has been raided a few times by the Boche 
aeroplanes and a few wrecked buildings show the results 
of that business. 

It sure was an interesting experience seeing and hear- 
ing these various soldiers. It is the first time, I guess, that 
so many different sorts of men have been brought into 
such close contact. I shall have some interesting things to 
say about that which would probably not pass the censor. 
National feeling and consciousness has been developed 
and each nationality has been welded together as only 
can be accomplished by such a gathering of the real rep- 
resentatives of the nations. I only hope that this war will 
weld together the American nation in the same way and 

C 14 ] 



CHATTET^II 

bring out a national feeling and develop, you might say, 
the personality and character of the nation, — for the real 
character and personality is that of the people as a whole 
and not just that of a few men who govern the nation 
and declare the policies of the nation. 

We have lain dormant, as it were, for some time, intent 
only on our own interests, caring little for the interests 
of nations. But our men will come back, I think, with 
larger views and a better pride in their country. 

Of course entering the War was the only thing for us 
to do and it 's a great shame we did not enter the struggle 
before. 

Everybody seems to feel that Germany is nearing the 
end of her rope. I talked with a number of men who have 
just come "down the line," — some were in the trenches 
when Fritz first came over in this last big push. One of 
these fellows I talked with, an English chap, has been in 
four years and has been over the top several times. He 
was a private and has some sort of decoration for bravery. 
He had just been wounded for the third time, a small 
shrapnel wound on the wrist, and was in when the Ger- 
mans came over. I guess he has gone back now. Men are 
sent out for the smallest wounds and are taken care of 
excellently. a. e. a. 



C 15 ] 



CHAPTER III 

DURING the month and a half our regiment spent 
in the British training area behind the lines near 
Arras, non-coms from each company were sent to the 
lines for a few days' experience and observation. Gene 
was picked to go up, and it was during his time at the 
front that he wrote this letter to Professor Charles Cope- 
land, who is known affectionately to his students and 
friends as "Copey." 

(JMay lo 
Dear Copey : You really should be living in a dug-out, 
cool, comfortable and in this case clean! But Til go back 
a little. 

From the place where I last wrote you we journeyed 
a bit and came to a little French town where we were 
billeted. I was very lucky, — got a barn with a roof for 
my squad, — and we lived like lords. The barn used to be 
the domicile of a big Rosa Bonheur farm-horse, but since 
ejectment proceedings, — delicately accomplished with 
the use of several bayonets, — the poor beast comes round 
at midnight almost every night, and sadly kicks at the 
door, whinnies and neighs until every one 's awake, 
dodges the army shoes, size 14, which come hustling thru 
the darkness and goes away to sleep in the fields some- 

C 16] 



CHATTEI^III 

where. A farmhand the other day told me that this very 
horse brought a carload of people from Belgium in the 
days of the refugees, almost four years ago, so we seri- 
ously considered the construction of some kind of a shel- 
ter for him. 

Well, about a week ago, I got orders to move up to 
the front to do some special work. With two other men 
from my company we took a long motor journey to here. 
And as I say, we live in a clean, cool, comfortable dug- 
out, thirty feet underground, so we can laugh at anything 
Fritz sends over. And he sends them over not infre- 
quently too. We 're about 2000 yards back of No-Man's 
Land, — near enough you see. 

Just now, I 'm sitting in the trench outside the dug-out 
entrance watching the beetles on the trench walls run 
about and play tag. It's a wonderful warm day, — every- 
thing seems asleep in the sun, — there's hardly a sound. 
Then there will be a faint boom in the distance and a 
whee-ee that grows louder and louder. I begin to won- 
der where it will hit, — stop writing for a minute. This 
whee-ee becomes almost a scream, — something passes 
just overhead with a fearful rush, — and there's a crash 
that shakes the air. I can hear the bits of shell sing over 
my head as they scatter, I hear some plop into the ground 
perhaps a few yards away. That's Fritz ! Just keeping an 
eye on things. 

z 17: 



OIS^THE FIELD OF H01S[gR 

Fritz is n't the only one to make a noise and spoil our 
noon-day siesta. Our shells sing over us continually, and 
if an aeroplane of either side becomes too venturesome, 
you can hear the old machine guns begin to chatter. And 
the Archies, as the anti-aircraft guns are called, begin to 
bang away. A little black pufF appears in the sky near 
the plane; a minute later you get the report strangely 
detached. Then when a straf begins down to the south, 
all hell breaks loose, so we drop below decks to sing and 
talk. We have a jolly crowd and many good times. 

E. G. 

(JMay 12 
At present we are billeted in the most beautiful little 
French village you could possibly imagine. From the sta- 
tion where we left the train to this town of Licques is 
about twenty miles. It is one of the finest bits of country 
I have ever seen. We debarked from the train that had 
brought us from Calais about noon, and were fortunate 
in having auto trucks to carry the packs. 

It was a rare spring day, the air soft and sweet and 
filled with the fragrance of apple-blossoms, now just in 
their prime. Our road out of the village led us down one 
of those long straight avenues completely arched in on 
both sides by beautiful trees, — trees with their tall, bare, 
stately trunks crowned at the top with a magnificent 

C 18 ] 



CHATTET^III 

spread of green, — trees that must have taken a hundred 
years to perfect in their absolute symmetry and grace. 
This avenue stretched out perfectly straight for several 
miles before us. I don't know if there are other such roads 
anywhere but in France, but you must have seen them 
when you were here and can probably recall their beauty. 
On either side of the road was the most picturesque roll- 
ing country of green fields dotted here and there with 
clumps of beautiful trees and pretty little red-roofed cot- 
tages which seemed to have sprung up from the ground 
in the midst of the foliage in which they nestled. 

We walked on until about 9 o'clock in the evening 
when we came to Licques. Our billets are farm-houses, 
sheds, barns and outhouses, among which the men are 
stationed. We are right in with the '* cows and chickens." 
The beauty of being billeted like this is that you are liv- 
ing right with the French people and get constant oppor- 
tunity to talk with them. p. b. e. 



<iJMay 17 
I just want to tell you I am very very happy at this job 
which is one not only of studying about war but study- 
ing about men, — and how best to accomplish the end 
toward which we are all working now with heart and 
soul, — the defeat of our great enemy, — the enemy of 

c 19 ] 



OIS^THE FI8LD OF HOl^R 

peace, liberty and everything that is right. I tell you, Dad, 
if a fellow knows how to go about it, he could make a 
success right here in the position I am in, because if you 
were here you would realize that there are many many 
situations, arguments, criticisms, acts of stupidity, dissat- 
isfaction, etc., which do more harm to the cause than you 
would possibly imagine, which can be squelched only by 
some one in their midst with a little tact and intelligence. 
I don't claim that I have that tact and intelligence, but 
believe me I hope to develop it in time, to some extent, 
because I believe it is bound to help in the end, — every 
little thing that is said or done to set things straight or 
back up our splendid officers at times when they are not 
in a position to do it themselves. f. r. a. 



June 6 
... So I kept right on going and to-day I felt as though 
I was headed on the right road with the men behind me 
in everything I say or do. It is a pretty rough road some- 
times, but if I can go to bed each night with the feeling 
that I have put more spirit and a better spirit in some 
one man in the platoon, I have accomplished something. 
Perhaps you never realized how important a part a good 
army morale plays. For example, when the soldier gets 
a good meal, or a wise order is given to make things 

c 20 : 



CHATTET^III 

more comfortable for the men they march forward sing- 
ing and in step, but a poor breakfast makes a few ring- 
leaders dissatisfied, and there is no life to the drill or the 
hike. This is by no means to convey to you that I am a 
howling success over here and that the Germans had 
better look out when I get in charge of any one at the 
front; but just to let you know I haven't forgotten what 
we are all fighting for and the duty I owe you all to 
make my education and training count every minute. 

There are rumors of our commissions being on the 
way, but as long as I feel I am helping to prepare these 
men for the front, I never give rumors a thought because 
if a man deserves a commission he will get it soon enough. 

F. R. A. 

Ju7ie 5 
You can't guess where I was ? Well, 1 11 give you three 
tries. No! You've missed. I was up in the front line on 
an observation trip for four days. I had a most interest- 
ing time and as instructive a few days as I have run up 
against yet, although I did n't get a Boche. 

I know now what a "Minne" [minnen werjer) is, a 
"coal-box," a .9/r^and many other terms which apply 
to the works of old Fritz. 

The sector I visited was comparatively quiet, only an 
occasional strajy which are surprisingly easy to dodge. 

c 21 : 



a:>^THE FIELD OF HdXQR 

As Ions: as the first shell or salvo does not land wirhin a 
few feet of vou, vou can generally o-et out o'i the \\ av of 
any systematic yfrjf if vou 're fast enougli on your feet 
and can round the corners o'i a trench with celerity. 

It ^^■as wonderful to meet the bovs who have been thru 
four years o'( this struggle. 1 was fortunate in being in 
with a bunch who are noted for their dash and coura2:e. 
It certainly was an education and they treated nie O. K. 
You know, 1 think soldiering makes real men. I h.ave 
tbund that in spite of rough exterior they all have their 
good sides. 

Well, I am back again now at billets with the company 
and expect to sleep in good quarters for a spell. While 
'' up the line" I slept in a " bivie," a small hole in the side 
o'i a trench, which houses two or three men and as many 
families o'l ''cooties." 

I returned congratulating myself that I liad escaj>ed 
that wary creature. I ''read the book" (my undershirt) 
and he was nowhere to be seen. But a wliile ago I dis- 
covered him. probably a member of a prosperous family. 
I guess I'll have to pursue the method one o'l the boys 
"up the line" suggested: Fool *em all: turn your shirt 
inside out and it takes the cooties two davs to cret back. 

Don't be afraid for me here in France. As you have re- 
alized, there are plenty of temptations. Some fellows have 
fiancees they idolize in the United States. I have none, but 

L ^^2 ] 



CHA^TE%JII 

I have a Mother who is constantly a source of inspira- 
tion. As you see by the book of poems I sent, I have cop- 
ied them in my notebook. a. e. a. 

June 9 
You may sympathize with me in my troubles now, but 
believe me, I am enjoying it all. It's some grand big ex- 
perience let me tell you. I do not need sympathy for most 
of these inconveniences are small and I can see the funny 
side of them. Imagine getting cigarettesby ration weekly. 
I stand in line and get my little three packages of Eng- 
lish Tommie fags, and on the side let me tell you I enjoy 
these Ruby Queens or Red Hussars just as much as Her- 
mitage Specials. I am really soldiering now. Eh Bo! 

A. E. A. 

June 11 
. . . Then pretty soon the old farmer himself appeared 
on the scene with a bottle of Madeira which he claims he 
brought with him from Algiers where his family origi- 
nally came from . . . and to finish off with, we had cider 
and coffee and then the old lady insisted we take along 
four hard boiled eggs apiece for our lunch to-day. It is 
true hospitality everywhere, and I almost always leave 
my address and tell them to write apres la guerre. If you 

C 23 ] 



OT^THE FI8LD OF HO'liOR 

see Mrs. Angier, you might tell her that there are two 
soldiers who will never go hungry or thin in this country 
where generosity is in every nook and crevice, and I be- 
lieve it will be the same in the trenches if we ever get 
there to do our little bit. f. r. a. 



June 14 
This morning just before breakfast (at 6 a.m. ) I went 
to mass in the most wonderful littlecountry church. There 
were only three or four little girls and five or six little 
boys and a few old ladies, but it was lovely with the sun 
streaming in through the stained glass windows and the 
flowers at the altar and the lighted candles, the nicest old 
• priest and a tiny organ. 

lean carry on quite an intelligent conversation although 
often I nod and say "oui," "oui," when I have no more 
idea of what they are talking of than the man in the moon. 
Curfew rings at 9, but I am writing in the quaintest little 
parlor while an old woman is sewing a rip in one of my 
khaki shirts. She has brought out her little lamp, which 
probably has n't been used for months, because they usu- 
ally go to bed as soon as it grows dark. I am having the 
treat of a big cigar which one of the nicest little Italian 
fellows brought all the way from America with him and 
he insisted that the Sergeant take it as he had another for 

[ 24 ] 



CHATTET^IH 

himself. Really there is nothing to the life over here that 
is unpleasant, in fact, all you read in the papers is mostly 
bosh. I haven't had an unpleasant day yet. Yesterday I 
found cooties for the first time and all I did was to get 
some boiling water from an old lady and give my under- 
shirt a good bath which quickly put an end to their ex- 
istence. They aren't at all bad and I never knew I had 
them . Everything in this world is n 't half what it 's cracked 
up to be. F. R. A. 

June 16 
We have recently made a big change in our location 
leaving the English sector and after a four days' train ride 
arriving here in a quiet part of the line in Lorraine. Just 
now we are having a rest in a little town in Eastern 
France. Our billets are in an interesting old house, — 
must be five hundred years old, — and I am writing in the 
kitchen at the same table as the family who are eating 
their supper. A few minutes ago Al and I had some won- 
derful eggs fried in nice fresh butter, eggs which the 
"madame"took, still warm, from under the chickens, and 
a big bowl of milk which came out of the cow not more 
than half an hour ago. 

It's very cozy now sitting here chatting with madame 
as I write. Her father, who fought in the Franco-Prussian 
War of '70, has his chair by the fire and the husband, who 

[ 25 ] 



OlS^THE FISLD OF HO'I^R 

has seen three years' service in this war, smokes his pipe 
after a hard clay's work in the fields. Every one works 
over here — old and young. Yesterday I saw a touching 
sight, — an old bent man of seventy or eighty years was 
leaning over a grindstone sharpening his scythe while a 
little girl, eight or nine years at most, turned the grind- 
stone for him. All civilians show wonderful spirit and are 
remarkably obliging and nice to us American soldiers. 

p. B. E. 

June 18 
I am determined to look upon you no longer as my 
aunt, but as my fairy godmother. For behold ! My last 
shred of tobacco gave out this morning at nine o'clock 
and your package arrived at ten. I am so blissfully happy 
to smoke real tobacco again that my friends peer through 
the blue cloud that surrounds me and ask me why the 
rain does n't make me glum. 

To make the day further memorable, at two o'clock a 
batch of mail came in. And the sun came out and I won- 
dered whether my luck had turned at last. I believe it 
really has, and that the commission may be very near. 
I lie awake sometimes thinking of the things I want 
most. You can reahze, I think, how I miss the piano, — 
I haven't touched one for two months, — and books, — 
have n't a solitary one except drill regulations and no 

C 26] 



CHATTEl^III 

place to carry one anyway, — and music and good fel- 
lowship and all the good things of life, of which I have 
had more than my share perhaps. The great thought that 
keeps me grinding is that it can't be so very long now 
before I have some of these good things again — which 
is a good deal of comfort when you put your scanty meal 
down on a bench to get some coffee, and a goat eats it up 
while your back is turned. And the goat goes off laugh- 
ing internally and externally and I stand looking at him 
wishing I did n't have to preserve quite such cordial rela- 
tions with the French people and their property as regu- 
lations specify. Believe me, there is no animal so cunning, 
so wicked and so perpetually hungry as a French goat. 
A fox, lion or tiger are all household pets compared with 
him. Happily the French people are not all like their goat. 
They are very pleasant and to any one who can jabber a 
little French and inquire after the children, — and even pet 
the wicked goat, — in very had patois as I have succeeded 
in doing, they will give anything they have. Many times 
they have made me an omelet and given me the very 
last drop of milk in the house when other soldiers failed, 
because of the Blarney of my tongue. The peasants are 
a very good sort and we get on well together. 

Bugle's blowing for mess. The goat is coming. An- 
other struggle for food. Please ask Lord Rhonda to put 
a heavy tax on goats. e. g. 

C 27 ] 



OlS^THE FIELD OF H07{0R 

June 21 

As I recently told you, we have made a big change in 
our location, traveling to an entirely different part of 
France. Our first month over here we were in billets in 
little French towns not far behind the lines. You know 
or must have read that air raids occur very frequently. 
We passed quite often houses, or rather ruins of houses, 
where the bombs had struck. These bombs or aerial tor- 
pedoes make a terrible wreck of a house, as they do not 
explode on contact but bury well inside the building and 
then rip it to pieces. 

Air raids, of course, only come off at night, and only on 
moonlight nights when the Boche can see where he wants 
to go and get a line on his objective. Raiding hostile ma- 
chines always fly very high so as to try to avoid the anti- 
aircraft guns and the machines always come in force — 
never alone. It is easy to recognize the Germans because 
their engine has a buzz very different from the noise 
made by the Allied planes. 

About a month ago, one bright moonlight night, we 
were out in some practice trenches near a village which 
was frequently bombed. Just after midnight, as we were 
relieving another company in the front line of our 
dummy-trenches, the Huns came over. It was a wonder- 
ful experience which I shall never forget. 

The weird shriek of a siren — the warning to the in- 

C 28 ] 



CHATTET{JII 

habitants of the town to duck into their bomb-proof shel- 
ters — told us that the Taubes were near. This sound, 
a melancholy long-drawn-out wail, was repeated three 
times and then absolute quiet and silence followed. We 
crouched down in our trenches, listening with all our ears 
and looking up into a beautiful calm night, — the sky 
filled with stars and flooded with the light of a bright 
new moon, — and tried to make out in the sky above, the 
planes which were speeding toward us. Very soon we 
heard a faint buzz and hum, — the buzz of the Taubes, — 
far in the air above our heads and still several miles off 
in the distance. Almost immediately four broad shafts of 
light — the searchlights trying to locate the Germans — 
began to play, moving back and forth across the heavens. 
Away in front of us the anti-aircraft guns started to crack 
and little spits of fire, like stars in the sky, flashed con- 
tinuously. 

The Boche came on fast; the buzz of their machines 
grew louder and louder, and we saw they would pass 
right over our heads. Now the guns from the town and 
other stations in the vicinity opened fire and a steady 
crack and roar broke out. We could see the shells as they 
burst far up in the sky above us, some of them like shoot- 
ing stars, others great flashes of light. 

The flashlights searched back and forth and just as we 
could hear the droning buzz right over our heads, I saw 

[ 2.9 ] 



O'l^THE FIELD OF HOIS^OR 

a little bar of silver as one of the planes was caught in 
the light which reflected from the wings. Away above 
us there, perhaps a couple of miles in the air, it was 
scarcely visible even in the rays of the powerful search- 
light and practically impossible for the guns to hit. In the 
midst of their crackle several dull booms follow- ed in quick 
succession and we could feel the ground shake as the 
bombs landed in the town behind us. One of them must 
have hit an ammunition dump, for in a minute a regular 
fireworks started, — shells catching fire and going into 
the air like rockets, leaving a blazing trail behind them . Of 
course the Boche never stopped and the buzz gradually 
grew fainter; new searchlights in the distance opened 
and those near us went out; the guns in the town ceased 
firing and all was silent again. Off on the horizon we 
could see the bands of light slow ly crossing the sky and 
distinguish the flash of the shells which were too far away 
for us to hear. 

One can imagine how the old Heinies must grin to 
themselves as they speed onward away up in the dark- 
ness of the night and laugh at the shells bursting below 
them. Of course it is largely pure chance where their 
bombs will land. Many of them explode harmlessly in 
fields or w^oods, others may hit a house or barn. That 's 
the deviltry of the thing: the bombs may just as well ex- 
plode on a church or hospital as strike a munitions fac- 

C 30 ] 



CHATTE%^in 

tory or railroad station ; and many times in small villages 
where there is surely no object of military importance the 
Huns let go some bombs while on their route to important 
objectives, — just for the pure hell of it, as it seems. 

p. B. E. 

Ju?ie 25 
Please don't tell any one outside the family, but I was 
so happy the other day when the Captain said, "I under- 
stand that the commissions are on the way, and if ever 
there is a vacancy in the company we all would like you 
to come to us and see this game through with us." Wasn't 
that a wonderful compliment, and it came as such a sur- 
prise that I hardly knew what to say. You see I have be- 
come so attached to every one here that I would really 
hate to leave, but whenever the time comes for a decision 
I shall choose where I think I can do the most good and 
be of the greatest service. f. r. a. 

June 26 

I have at last reached a place where money is of no 
value at all, and where love and friendship count for 
everything. This heaven is a little village entirely in ruins 
with only four inhabitants, three old women and one old 
man, but they would give you anything they have. A 

C 31 ] 



O'l^THE FIELD OF HO'^^OR 

wonderful big Irishman gave me a corking hair-cut and 
would n't take a cent, one of the four civilians gave me a 
couple of eggs and a big glass of milk and wouldn't take 
a penny, and, best of all, the French soldiers when our 
rations don't come regularly share their little bit with the 
lovely cheerfulness and smiles which are everywhere in 
this country. f. r. a. 



June 29 
I wish you could see us now, — in a nice little cabin with 
bunks around the wall in the heart of one of the most 
beautiful bits of forest one could possibly imagine, — a 
forest which one might run across in New Hampshire or 
the BerkshireSjWith tall graceful elms and beeches whose 
thick green foliage forms a perfect canopy over a carpet 
of grass and shrubs. 

This morning, it being Sunday, Al and I lay in our 
bunks puffing cigarettes after a nice breakfast of coffee, 
bread and apple sauce, which, by the way, we ate in bed 
as one of the boys brought our mess from the kitchen. 
We said, with a smile, — "And this is War." The joke of 
it is that we are in the front line just a kilo or so from 
the Boche. We might just as well be on a vacation ofl in 
the mountains except for an occasional shell passing over 
our heads and aeroplanes buzzing back and forth. Of 

c 32 ] ' 



CHATTET^lIl 

course it is an extremely quiet sector and we are put here 
mainly for training purposes. Neither side ever attacks 
because there is nothing to be gained by the possession 
of a few miles more or less of this country, and because 
both Germans and French have extremely comfortable 
places which either would hate to leave. We are right in 
with the French, their companies intermingled with ours 
and a Frenchman beside each American. The French 
surely are the most courteous, kind-hearted people in the 
world and would do anything for you. I only hope we 
don't impose on their good nature. p. b. e. 



July 4 
There has been nothing hilarious and " hooray-boys " 
about our 4th to-day. We are all here with a grim pur- 
pose, and the best way we could celebrate the day would 
be to cross No-Man's Land with a load of bombs and give 
the Boche a taste of the Yankee determination and push. 
We are back for "rest" now, so this is a safe and sane 
Fourth. 

We read in the paper this a.m. about the American 
success on Monday last. It was fine news to hear on the 
Fourth. 

We were addressed by a French Colonel, who men- 
tioned in his address the names of Lafayette and Rocham- 

C 33 ] 



OI^THE FI8LD OF H01SQR 

beau, and the debt we were repaying France many fold. 
But it must be remembered, nevertheless, that the United 
States is fighting for her own free existence and princi- 
ples just as well as France and England. 

Nothing as yet of a commission, — pretty tough, isn't 
it.^ But it will be here before long, je pense. 

I think of you all continually, — especially on a day like 
this. 

Judging by the time that your mail takes to get here, 
this ought to arrive on or within a few days of your birth- 
day. I '11 not be with you in body, but in spirit I '11 be with 
you. It certainly is a great way in which you are taking 
all this sacrifice. Your boy is with you, — you're an in- 
spiration to me, you bet ! I am not good at expressing my 
feelings along this line but I know I owe my ideals to 
my Mother. God bless you. a. e. a. 



July 6 
Have just been to service at the Y. M. with Larry and 
Al ; then we all went out to write and are sitting under 
a small apple tree on a hillside back to back, and nothing 
but the busy scratching of pens on paper to be heard. 

In a little valley down the hill to the left nestles our 
village, a patchwork of red roofs ; while off a mile or so 
down a pretty winding road another little town just shows 

c 34 : 



CHATTE%^ni 

the same red slate roofs above the fringe of green pop- 
lars. From the church spire which always dominates these 
small French towns, the sweet notes of the chimes drift 
lazily toward us on the breeze. All quiet, peace and the 
soft beauty of loving nature, — not the slightest sugges- 
tion of War. 

On the 4th we had a small celebration, — a baseball 
game, some real American lemonade ^ and each man pre- 
sented with a fine box of tobacco done up in a Fourth of 
July box, — red, white and blue. After the game our 
Colonel and a French Colonel made speeches. 

One of the points in the speeches particularly appealed 
to me, — to the effect that now, for the first time, the 
American soldiers in France are really and actually cele- 
brating Independence Day and the spirit of Independ- 
ence and fighting for it too. It is good to feel that we are 
with the French and helping pay back our many debts 
to them. Such a wonderful people as they are with a spirit 
that will never be crushed, or broken or beaten down. 

p. B. E. 

July 9 
But, after all, the line is the only thing. I '11 stick to the 
Infantry as long as they leave me with my full quota of 
arms and legs. It is n't a bed of roses by any means; it's 

[ 35 -] 



O'l^THE FI8LD OF H01S(gR 

sure hell sometimes, but you always have the feeling 
that the aeroplanes scout and the artillery makes bar- 
rages and the Q. M. sees to food and the medical corps 
brings up iodine and bandages, — all for the one sole ob- 
ject of helping the Infantry to do the work, — " Over the 
top and give them hell," and that's a wonderful feeling. 

E. G. 

Jii/y 13 
Well, I suppose you want to know what I 've been do- 
ing. To tell the truth it 's been surprising little as a rule, 
although there are times when I have no chance to lie in 
the sun and dream of ice cream sodas. 

But there is always a touch of humor to be found in 
these old French towns. Take, for instance, the Town 
Crier. They are in every town and they are always the 
same, — a very old man with a very weak voice.* I think 
that complete inaudibility must be one of the requirements 
for the position. 

You are sitting in front of your billets waiting for 
something to happen, when along becomes with a very 
old drum slung around his neck. He stops at the corner 
of the street, ejects a monstrous quid of tobacco, and beats 
a long roll on the drum. Whereupon jeering soldiers 
gather from every corner. The windows are filled, the 
sidewalks are jammed. All these soldiers are utterly ig- 

[ 36 ] 



CHATTET^III 

norant of the French language. The long roll of the drum 
ceases and there is a hush. The crier digs down into the 
recesses of his person and produces a dirty bit of paper. 
He clears his throat; you can hear a pin drop; then he 
breaks forth into a torrent of French in a squeaky voice. 
Every one listens with rapt attention. He finishes and hits 
the drum once as a period. There is a pause; then all 
the crowd break forth into cheers. The street resounds 
to shouts of " Encore !"" Encore ! " " Louder!" " I don't 
believe you!" "You're a Liar!" "Kill him! "and other 
cries. Soldiers rush up and shake his hand and try to steal 
his drum-sticks. The old man is immensely pleased and 
goes off to his next stop smiling and bowing to the mob. 
Meanwhile all who understand French are busily en- 
gaged explaining that all he said was that they are going 
to kill a pig next Friday at 4 o'clock. I get quite weak with 
laughing. It 's really very funny. One day they stole his 
piece of paper and the next stop the poor old man had 
a terrible time. e. g. 



c 3?:] 



CHAPTER IV 

July 14 

EVERYTHING is quiet except the noise of the street 
below, where the French and Americans are finish- 
ing the revel of a French fete day. As I sit in this little 
attic on a bench drawn close to a long table writing by 
the flickering light of a candle, I think over all the events 
of the past three months. It was exactly three months 
ago to-day I left the shores of home behind arid set out 
on a transport in the direction of France. It all seems like 
a wonderful dream because I have been so happy and the 
time has passed so quickly. 

To-day the United States has seen fit to offer me a 
Commission in the National Army of the United States, 
and by the light of a candle in the Major's room I swore 
to defend and support the Constitution to the best of my 
ability. I feel how young I am to accept the responsibil- 
ity of men's lives at a time like this, but I feel strong and 
ever stronger when I think of my father and the won- 
derful bringing up he has given me; and the love of my 
mother and the influence of my friends. I shall pray to 
God that He show me the best way to exercise my au- 
thority and come home a better man and worthy of the 
trust all you at home have placed in me. 



F. R. A. 



[ 38 ] 



CHA^TE%JV 

July 14 
To-day is a holiday all over France in commemora- 
tion of the fall of the Bastile. It is a lovely day, and as I sit 
out under the trees I wonder what you are doing at home 
and run over in my mind all my fun and experiences of 
these last three months. I guess these three months have 
been about the happiest of my life, and no matter what 
fate has in store for me from now on, they can never take 
away these happy three months of living right here with 
the boys. There is good in every one and I hope I am 
broad minded enough to help bring it to the surface and 
recognize it. 

The brightest spot of my whole life here will always 
be the three months with Company D. It is a splendid 
feeling to look offover the hills and feel you haven't one 
enemy among those you have been living with, and that 
in your little family of forty men (my platoon) there is 
no one who would not help you and no one you would 
not help. 

It was the happiest day of my hfe when the Captain 
called me up to him and said that he had given me the first 
recommendation out of six candidates in the company, 
and that he would like to have me stay as a Lieutenant 
in his company. To me that was better than a thousand 
commissions because he felt that I have the spirit of the 
boys behind me. 

C 39 ] 



OlS^THE FIELD OF HOISQR 

But those higher up have seen fit to assign me to the 
28th Division where I am to go and start the never end- 
ing duties and responsibilities of life anew. Perhaps it is 
better after all to go where you can command greater 
discipline, but your heart tells you that you hate to leave 
men who have been looking up to you for help in the real 
scrap and in the hard places which they will some day 
have to face. f. r. a. 

July 16 
Received to-day your letter No. 1 4 ( 23d June ). I wrote 
you No. 18 on the 15th of July, telling you about com- 
missions. Since then I have taken the oath and am now a 
2nd Louey. I expect any day to visit a nearby town to get 
equipment at O. M. and report to Div. Hdqrs. for assign- 
ment. I am eating at the officers' mess and sleeping with 
the men. Things are beginning to look up, and with re- 
sponsibilities,! think I shall get also the joy of doing things. 
I am on my own now, folks, as I never have been before. 
You gave me the inheritance and environment. You put 
me into college. ( I did not have to do this, of course, but 
the fact remains it was all handed to me on a platter. ) 
That gave me the opportunity of going to the R. O. T. C. 
and later the Third O.T. S. Recommendation from there 
led from a Sergeantcy to a Lieutenancy. It was all handed 
on a platter. But now, — I am on my own among mefi, — 

[ 40 ] 



CHATTE%JV 

real men, who are handling the army that is going to win 
the War! It 's up tome to make good. 

Just think, Mother (I have no swelled head, — far 
from it ) , but your son twenty-one years of age has been 
made a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army of the United States, 
on active service on foreign soil. How 's that ? You see that 
I 've got to make good now. Here's my real chance, and 
I feel the thing for which I have been raised and edu- 
cated. I '11 swing it and come back to you all in the old 
home town. 

I had a long talk with Larry yesterday. It seems we are 
going to part after being together for six months and 
before that in college. He is going to a National Guard 
outfit while I remain with this division. I certainly regret 
this separation, but you know the Army. Then again one 
can never tell when we shall bump together again. 

The boys over here are convinced that the U.S. is 
behind them, — that everybody over there with you is 
working for us and we 're working for you. They feel 
that the big U. S. with all its wonderful resources has 
plunged into the struggle to end this war with a rush. 
We sure get confidence from this; if you all there keep 
on showing us, as you have been, that the folks at home 
are in it heart and soul, and every one, big and small, old 
and young, are pulling together, we'll swing in with a 
will and squelch the Boche. The boys get together, as 

C 41 D 



OIS^THE FISLD OF HO'^^OR 

you may well imagine, and hash over the war and the 
work at home. From letters andnewspapers we are learn- 
ing of the strides and bounds that the old U. S. is taking. 
It gives us punch. a. e. a. 

Ju/y i8 
Am still having a wonderful old time because I am 
still with Company D still waiting for my discharge from 
the ranks, so you see I am both an officer and a sergeant 
at the same time. 

Our Company D officers are marvelous, they have in- 
vited us to their mess, and to-night I 'm going to be offi- 
cer of the guard. Doesn't that sound important.? They are 
the finest men I have ever seen, and no matter where I 
go I feel sure I shall never come in contact with finer. 
For example, last night late, we were all working in the 
orderly room, when the supply sergeant came around for 
a detail of six men to carry ammunition. Well, the officers 
laughed, took off' their coats, and went out in the rain, and 
we lugged heavy boxes for over an hour simply because 
the men had gone to bed and the officers had n't the heart 
to wake them up after the good work they had done dur- 
ing the day. 

Yesterday I went over and chatted with Al all the 
afternoon. He is a wonderful boy and we have certainly 
been a great help to one another, at least he has given 

c 4'^ : 



CHATTET^IV 

me wonderful advice and pulled me over the rough places 
cheerfully and easily. Out of the seven fellows recom- 
mended for commissions in his company, his Captain called 
him in personally to tell him that when the Colonel sent 
for further recommendations he handed in Al's name first, 
and he congratulated Al on his spirit and above all on 
having the men love him. It is the only dark spot of my 
happiness over here that we are going to be separated. 
But I realize that a good soldier goes where he is sent 
and does his best. 

I went out last evening and said good-by to the platoon 
and informed them who was to be their leader and made 
my first petit speech. They were wonderful and would do 
anything for me, and I would always be happy to have 
lived with them and helped them whenever I could. I have 
found out one thing for certain. It is n't so much my edu- 
cation that has helped but my bringing up. f. r. a. 

July 21 
What a wonderful old world it is in spite of the war; 
how filled with interesting and beautiful things and in- 
teresting people. We are on our way to Paris on our own 
hook. What do you think of that.^ As I wrote you, our 
commissions came through on the 14th, but we continued 
with the company until last evening when we were sum- 
moned to regimental headquarters, given our discharges 

C 43 ] 



OIS^THE FISLD OF HO'^^QR 

from the army, the papers for our commissions, and told 
to report to Paris to learn the whereabouts of our new 
division. All of us shook hands with the Colonel, grabbed 
our papers, and started to make tracks for the nearest 
railroad station, a distance of some fifteen miles. This was 
about ten o'clock at night. We had not gone far wlien 
a big motor lorry came along. We hailed it, found it 
was going our way, and jumped in ; a ride of two hours 
brought us to the town. 

As long as I live I shall never forget that ride. It was 
a soft summer night, the sky twinkling with stars, and the 
ever beautiful moon high in the heavens. Our truck sped 
on down one of those wonderful French roads with its 
stately rows of sentinel trees, beyond which spread out 
beautiful rolling country, checkered fields and hedges, 
little clusters of houses, and off in the east the crest of 
the Vosges Mountains just discernible in the moonlight. 
The silence, the darkness, our speed of movement as the 
country unrolled itself before us, all gave me a thrill and a 
feeling of mystery, of big events to come. In our car were 
as happy a crowd of fellows as ever got together. There 
were about thirty of us, all commissioned after long, hard 
grinding in the ranks, all going through to Paris and on 
to our new assignment. The night rang with the old songs 
of the O. T. S. and Harvard football songs, which we 
shouted out with all our might. 

c 44 ;] 



CHATTE%^IV 

As we rapidly sped away from the lines, every few 
minutes the three red stars of the Boche " all well" sig- 
nal rose into the sky, quivered a minute, and went out. 
Very beautiful they were, those three blazing disks shoot- 
ing up from the dark horizon behind us and spreading a 
red glow over the fields and woods below. We felt our 
spirits gripped by the mystery, the beauty, and signifi- 
cance of it all, speeding on into the night, a soft wind 
whipping into our faces as we rapidly passed the beautiful 
French countryside, — more beautiful and more myste- 
rious in the moonlight, — the German rockets mounting 
into the sky behind us suggestive of our time spent up 
in the lines and a time soon to come when we shall see 
more of the Boche. Where were we going, what sort of 
men were we to be with, and what was to become of us.^ 
We knew nothing of all that, but there was the crowd 
together again, headed for the only place in France, 
Paris, to get a few days of pleasure and change. We 
were leaving for good our old outfits, whose oflficers and 
men we had come to know and of whom many were firm 
friends, going out into the night, where we knew not, but 
all happy with spirits high faring forth to face what 
might come our way. 

It was wonderful this morning to step into a real rail- 
road coach once more, and after three months of riding 
in freight cars to sink back into the plush upholstery of 

[ 45 ] 



(y^^THf FIt'LD OF HO'':\gR 

a first class carriage. Unfortunately Al Angler is not going 
to Paris with us, as he has to stay in the same division as 
before, so we had to part at the station. Larrv Austin and 
myself are going to stick together, but we sure did hate 
to have the last handshake with Al. He is a wonderful 
chap. p. B. E. 



[ 4(^^ : 



CHAPTER V 

July 21 

YESTERDAY I was an enlisted man up at the front 
with shells passing over every once in a while and 
living in old hattered harns or out in the woods in a dug- 
out, and to-day I 'ni a commissioned Second Lieutenant 
traveling in a First Class Coach, toiite de suite for Paris 
amid every luxury. 

Yesterday afternoon I said good-hy to the hoys of my 
platoon and to our officers, and when I get back to the 
States I will tell you how wonderful each character is. It 
really broke my heart to leave. 

We surely were a fine buncli of 2nd Lts. when we left 
the station, some with leather leggins and no bars, others 
with bars and nothing else, and all of us with the dirtiest 
torn Private's uniforms, but believe mewe did n'tdo much 
worrying. The only sad part was parting with Al at the 
station. If ever you need a good faithful friend to pour 
your heart out to, it is over here in this game, and when 
things have gone a bit wrong he has been right at hand 
and we have sat out in the fields many Sundays writing 
to our Mothers and talking and enjoying Nature. He is 
assigned to the same division and I go far away, but in 
this game one goes where he is needed and says good- 
by cheerfully. It will be all the more wonderful when he 
and I come home together after the war. f. r. a. 

1 47 : 



cry^THE FieLD of Hr>:Nj)R 

July 21 

To continue the narrative, Paul Elliott, who is making 
the trip with me. and I jumped into a first class coach with 
our hlanket-rolls under our amis. At noon we arrived at 
Nancy, where we had to stop until 8 p.m. Elliott and I 
jumped off the train just like kids off for a grand time. 
Fortunately we like just the same things, so it was nt at 
all hard to agree on things and then do them. First we 
stopped in on a French familv and were invited to share 
tlieir Sunday dinner. All the bread and butter we could 
eat. some fish cooked to perfection, with a delicious French 
sauce with onions and jx^tatoes mixed in. Then the main 
course of green peas, potatoes, and ix^ast pork, steaming 
hot. then the ever wonderful French salad, and for dessert 
apple jam: last, after-dinner coffee and a little chat while 
we passed around our Tall Mall cigarettes. NN'e finished 
dinner about two and were so overjoved to see a regular 
street car that we jumped aboard and went to the end of 
the route on the front platform just as in .America. Then 
we \\ ent to the service at the cathedral, and later found 
a quiet little hotel where we had lemonade and cakes, and 
while one of us wrote letters the other en^^ved tlie lu\- 
urv of a real hot N\ater bath in a real bathtub. It is only 
after four months in the arniy that 1 have come to enjoy 
luxurv.i.e.. the proprietor let me know when my bath 
was readv and gave niv shoes to the man \\ ho drew my 

r 4S ] 



CHATTEl{^r 

bath to shine for me. Then supper at a little tea house, with 
ice cold orangeade, omelette, and bread and butter. No 
ice cream or ice cream soda has been found as yet, but to 
be sure I have been only asking and looking three and 
a half months. f. r. a. 

July 22 

We are approaching Paris, and will be there in about an 
hour. It is all so wonderful that it seems I 'm dreaming but 
I'm not, for opposite me in our fine compartment is the 
smiling face of Larry, and he and I are chatting with three 
FVench captains who are with us in this compartment. It 's 
great fun to sit in an upholstered seat again and see flit by 
you the beautiful French country, — country over which 
you have hiked many a hike, in rain and shine and mostly 
in the long hours of midnight and early morning. 

We've just stopped at a little station and bought some 
French papers. Isn't it wonderful, the French advance to- 
gether with our men.^ Every one is wild with enthusiasm 
and Foch is lauded to the skies. He surely deserves it all 
and is the man of the hour. 

I expect these next few days at Paris will be some of 
the most wonderful days of my life. Larry and I have lots 
in common ; we are going to Notre Dame and the Louvre 
and the Opera, and intend to see everything we can. And 
we arrive in Paris at the very moment of what may be the 

C 49 ] 



O'^THE FIELD OF HO'^^OR 

turning-point of the whole war, the crisis, when the great 
pendukim with irresistible force starts its movement in 
the other direction, gathering force as it goes and sweep- 
ing all before it. God grant it may be so, more for France's 
sake than our own country, which I think the w-ar is at last 
waking up. p. b. e. 

July 28 
I am writing this letter from the Harvard Bureau of the 
University Union. It is a very pleasant room, with desks 
and tables and easy chairs, the walls hung with Harvard 
banners, pictures of Presidents Eliot and Lowell, and 
scenes of the Stadium and crew races. A real bit of Har- 
vard way off' in France and a Godsend to men coming in 
from the front who want a quiet place to stay, where they 
may renew many old college acquaintances and get a real 
home atmosphere. 

I have met lots of boys from my class in college here at 
the Union, and last night ran into a chap I never expected 
to see over here. This fellow, Faneuil xAdams, had tried 
everything, but was unable to get into the American army. 
Right after college closed this spring, he came over and 
enlisted as a poi/u m the French armv. When you see 
a chap like that it makes you proud of your college 
and vour countrymen. That 's the kind of thinsf that Har- 
vard stands for, the same kind of spirit that prompted 

C 50 1 



CHATTEI^V 

John Gallishaw, after two years' service in the British 
army, when he was honorably discharged as unfit for 
duty after severe wounds, to go down to Texas, enlist 
there where the medical examination was not very strict, 
and then work his way into an R. O. T. C. and come out 
first in a list of 5500 men. He is here, sharing our room 
with Larry and me, and has just been commissioned as 
we all have. He is a remarkably wonderful chap. 

p. B. E. 

July 31 
We^ are w^aiting here for a truck to take us to our new 
division. Left Paris yesterday morning early and pulled 
into this town, where the headquarters of our division is 
located, in the afternoon. 

What a wonderful week in Paris we had ! Larry knows 
a girl, Hanna Fiske, who is doing relief work among the 
refugees who come into Paris. We had a glorious party 
one night — a swell dinner at the "Cafe de la Paix" and 
then a box in the English theatre, where they put on a 
good little show called "The Mollusc." The best part of 
the evening was to be together with American girls and 
chat about our country and our folks and forget that we 
were away from home and in a war. 

The night before we left Paris we had one of the most 
interesting times we spent there. One of Larry's friends, 

C 51 ] 



O'^THE FIELD OF H01S[0R 

a fine fellow by the name of Manley , came to see us at the 
University Union. Manley had lived in Paris as a boy, and 
he took us to a fine old restaurant in the Latin Quarter 
which he knew thoroughly. We had a marvelous meal 
and then strolled into a little French cabaret. About eleven 
we started back to the club and, linked arm in arm, startled 
some of the quiet streets of Paris by rousing Harvard 
football songs. There is sure no place like old Harvard, — 
no college with memories and associations like hers, no 
college that 's doing the work over here that she is. 

p. B, E. 



C 52 -] 



CHAPTER VI 

(^ytugust 1 

WE are all camped in the woods and it has been 
raining all night, and has just stopped long 
enough for me to drop you a birthday note. My new 
company is a peach of a company and mighty fine offi- 
cers, but of course it will be some time before I can learn 
the men and really accomplish something, but time will 
prove everything, and it is all in the game of life which 
begins to be bigger and more worth while every day. 

It is great to be all covered with mud again, after lux- 
urious Paris with clean sheets and a bath, and you even 
feel more at home with stew and beans than with the 
wonderful Paris fare. We made a march last night, and as 
I marched at the rear of my men in my platoon, I real- 
ized they were really and truly my men, for the present 
at least, and it was my decisions and plans that held their 
lives safe. 

I do love men, and if I can handle this job I shall return 
the happiest lad that ever crossed the seas. 

F. R. A. 

ri/4^ugust 4 
It is just about sunset and we are resting alongside the 
road, — a winding road on a hillside which slopes down to 
a beautiful river valley and rises abruptly on the oppo- 

C 53 3 



O^JTHE FISLD OF H01S[0R 

site side in a wood-fringed crest. Along the road a steady 
stream of transports, trucks, lorries, ammunition trains, 
and artillery is steadily moving forward — an endless 
stream that has been moving now for days, forward into 
the breach. The thin line of infantry extends along the 
road for miles, and similar lines stretch along all the roads 
in this sector, moving in one direction — northward. We 
shall move again when it becomes dark. Behind us a couple 
of observation balloons float lazily in the sky, while ahead, 
over the crest, the airplanes dart and circle, dodging the 
barrage and transmitting their observations to our artil- 
lery, which constantly rolls out its thunder. Every little 
hollow in the hills seems to have several guns hidden 
away. Now the sky in front is dotted with black puffs of 
smoke where the anti-aircraft shells have burst, and a 
couple of French planes are heading this way to get out 
of the fire which is becoming too hot for them. A signal 
outfit is passing on the road, leaving behind a line of 
wires which will soon pulsate with the orders, the mes- 
sages, and the information necessary to keep in motion 
this vast body and coordinate the movements of the many 
units to make a fighting force out of what now appears to 
be an endless disorganized stream of men and vehicles. 
Last night we were on the go for over twelve hours 
and had rather a tough time of it. It began to pour shortly 
after we started, and for ten solid hours the rain came 

C 54 ] 



CH^TTE%^VI 

down in sheets. But the men showed w^onderful spirit and 
I did n't hear a grumble, though most of them were all in 
and had been marching for twelve hours with full packs 
in the mud and rain. 

A night like that is not uncommon and it's the hardest 
part of the infantry work , not the fighting but the long 
marches, the wetting for days when you have no other 
clothes, the standing under shell fire in the darkness, — 
no chance to see the enemy but just hearing the old 
obiis come whistling down out of the air on you. Our men 
certainly show lots of gump and spirit, they're fine boys. 
This war game is one that shows you how white most 
men are, how big their hearts, how hardship brings out 
the best in them. I am sure that all these chaps will be 
much bigger in mind and spirit when they return home. 

p. B. E. 

^yTugust 5 
And now I have the honor to state that I 'm in the best 
company I have ever seen, under the best Captain I have 
ever seen, and with the finest fellows as Lieutenants with 
me I have ever seen. One is a Dartmouth man, one is a 
Harvard man, and one is a graduate of the great school 
of experience, — via the Spanish American War, — in 
other words, an old regular army cavalry -man, who still 
carries a Spanish bullet in his leg. 

C 55 ] 



(yi{^ THE FI8LD OF HO^K 

I have never been so blissfully happy. The surround- 
ings are so pleasant and the work so interesting that life 
is one sweet dream. So I 'm through with my kicking at 
army life, — I 'm afraid I 've done a lot of it in previous 
letters, — and have settled down to work. e. g. 

<^iigust 6 
I am lying under my shelter half in a little dug-out 
which my runner and I dug on a hillside. We are just 
under the brow of a steep hill, on the side away from the 
Boche, so that we are protected from his artillery fire. 
Below in a hollow is a line of six-inch howitzers and can- 
non which have been booming away over our heads all 
night. Just above us on the slope a battery of 75s have 
set up and crack away in continuous drum fire, — seems 
like a regular Fourth of July celebration. 

It 's sport to lie here and see the flash of the big guns 
below us, hear their crash, and follow the swish of the 
shell tearing its way thru the air until it lands kilos away 
in the Boche lines. 

Two mighty nervy German planes just came over our 
heads, aiming straight for a couple of observation bal- 
loons in our rear. I had to admire the way they went thru 
our barrage and straight for the balloons who never had 
a chance. The observers dropped down in parachutes 
just as the Boche aviators, diving on them, poured into the 

C 56 ] 



CHATTE%^VI 

balloons a burst of machine-gun bullets. The balloons 
soon broke into flames and fell to the ground, while the 
airplanes headed straight back over our heads for their 
lines. We opened on them with about twenty-five ma- 
chine guns and some anti-aircraft pieces, but they scooted 
safely thru a regular hail of bullets and got clear. It made 
us all sore, but they sure had lots of nerve to get away 
with it. The Germans are all fine fighters and thoroughly 
know the game. 

I wish I could tell you, folks, how much home means 
to us out here, how we are always talking of what we 
will do when we get back, and of the loved ones there. 

p. B. E. 

(August 14 
Sitting in a little dug-out, just as the sun is setting, look- 
ing out far over the hills. All is quiet except an occasional 
volley from our artillery below us and once in a w hile a 
few scattered replies from the Boche. It is all so big and 
you feel as if you were in a big dream. A shell just landed 
in the midst of our transport and they are carrying two 
fellows across the field on a stretcher. It sure is wonder- 
ful how no one thinks of death or fears it. I have the 
finest bunch in my platoon, and I am living right with 
them and trying to get to know each one as soon as pos- 
sible. Human nature is a wonderful thing, and there is 

C 57 ] 



OlS^THE FI8LD OF H01SQR 

nothing more human than this bunch looking to you for 
advice and leadership all the time. I have a gas sentinel 
posted at night outside my little dug-out, and it is fine 
some of these moonlight nights to come out when every- 
thing is still and just sit and talk to him about home and 
his mother and what we are all over here fighting for 
and what we will do when we get back. Here is a little 
piece of poetry one of the boys showed me that he re- 
ceived from home: 

Just to be tender^just to be tnu\ 
Just to be glad the whole din/ through^ 
Just to be merciful^just to be kind^ 
Just to be truthful as a child^ 
Just to be gentle and kind and srveet^ 
Just to be helpful -with •willing feet ^ 
Just to be cheery when things go wrong. 
Just to drive sorroxvs axvay with song. 
Whether the hour is dark or bright 
Just to believe that God knoxvs best. 
Just in His promises to rest. 
Just to let love be our daily key, 
Tliat is God''s ivill for you and me. 

No matter what a man was before he entered the 
army, his ideals are almost sure to become better, for it 
is absolutely true that war brings out the finest qualities 
that may have been hidden way down deep. ' 

Early morning with dew on the grass and the smoke 
going up in a thin line from our field kitchens below us. 
Our company goes up to the front line this morning. 

[ 58 ] 



CHATTE%^VI 

Do you want a German helmet, or one of those splendid 
German Belts inscribed ''Gott Mit Uns"^ It is a great 
privilege to be where our boys have been doing such 
wonderful work and made the Boche run as they have 
never run before. f. r. a. 

(August 15 
I wish you could be over here to see the Kaiser beat- 
ing it to the rear, and our friend Von Hindenburg also 
stepping on the throttle in the direction of Berlin. The 
Americans are the happiest bunch you can imagine, and 
when the Boche prisoners go by on the road you would 
think Barnum & Bailey's Circus was in town, to see the 
crowds gather and cheer. The German prisoners don't 
mind a bit. They enjoy the joke and shout back, '* Finis 
Trenches," and we return the joke and shout back," Finis 
Boche aussi and to Hell with your Kaiser." Even the 
stupid old mules we have to drag our kitchens seem to 
pick up their ears and say. Haw, Haw! f. r. a. 

(i^ugust 1 5 

I passed thru several villages which have come into 

our hands only within the last week, — every one of them 

the scene of fierce and bloody fights. You can have no 

idea of the devastation, the complete desolation, of these 

C 59 1 



0\S^THE FISLD OF HCy~S^R 

pretty French villages which the artillery o'i each side 
has reduced to a battered mass of ruins; where the rooh 
and walls of the houses are still standing they are pitted 
with shell holes: of the rooms inside, perhaps one corner 
is left untouched witii pictures on the walls, furniture 
standing, and in some places tables set with dishes and 
the reniains o( a meal still there: the other corner is a 
heap o'i rubbish, piles of stone and timber which have 
fallen from a gaping hole in the roof above. The roads 
are full o'i shell holes, gardens destroyed, fruit trees 
sawed down, and the beautiful shade trees shattered and 
torn by the hail of shells and bursting shrapnel they have 
surt'ered. Everywhere alone the roads and in the houses 
are scattered old rifles and uniforms, equipment o'i all 
kinds left behind or abandoned in the struggle, piles of 
shells and empty shell cases, guns and cannon destroyed 
or deserted, everywhere waste, ruin, and destruction that 
makes one sick to look upon. How I pity the poor French 
inhabitants who will return to find their homes shattered 
masses of stone, in ruins as complete as if a mighty earth- 
quake had leveled each house to the ground. 

Yet the French will come back and immediately set 
about restorina: their houses as best they can. In Chateau- 
Thierry the inhabitants followed the troops so closely 
that two days after the last German had been driven 
from the town the French families began to come back. 

~ 60 1 



CHATTE%^Vr 

Surely no people with such indomitable courage as that 
can ever be crushed or conquered. 

Regimental Headquarters of the iioth, where I now 
am, is in an old chateau that has escaped shelling to any 
considerable extent. Before the Boche left they broke all 
the glass, smashed the furniture, and mutilated the rooms 
as much as they could. In a beautiful high-walled gar- 
den behind the chateau all the fruit trees lie beside their 
stumps, — sawed clean off for no other reason than pure 
spite and hellishness. p. b. e. 



Q^iigust 16 
To-night I am going up to the Front Line for my first 
real time, and I assure you it is very fine to be so near 
and to have the chance to stand up for the ideals I believe 
in and be on the side of Right and Justice. It is easy to 
see that one man's life is nothing if it came to a question 
of making the sacrifice for this high cause. Believe me, I 
am proud to be an American, because there never could 
be a more unselfish cause than the one Uncle Sam has 
openly supported to the limit. His boys have come over 
with absolutely one idea, — namely, to crush cruelty, bar- 
barism, and make the world a happier, safer, and more 
peaceful place to live in, and then return home to their 
loved ones and leave untouched what there they found 

[ "■> ] 



O'^^THE FISLD OF HO'^R 

with " Freedom to Worship God." I know these men will 
return finer, cleaner, straighter men. f. r. a. 

Larry led his platoon safely to their section of the line 
the night of the sixteenth, and the next morning received 
an order detailing him to attend the Army Specialists 
School at Langes for a five weeks course. 

(August 19 
You remember when it was time to go back to school 
in the fall, we kids began to have long faces and think the 
outlook was pretty glum — until the following summer. 
Here all is different, school means a wonderful rest and 
a chance to think and learn and coolly plan how it is best 
for a kid of twenty-one to face facts. I am longing to get 
hold of a book just to study and practice and learn. If only 
I had been to the front before my Officers' Training 
School in the States, I would have known how to appre- 
ciate every word the instructor offered, — how when 
leading my platoon along a road at one o'clock at night, 
all alone, with no higher officer at hand, I thanked Har- 
vard and Lt. Morize and Col. Azan for their few words 
of advice as to what to do when the Boche opened up with 
his artillery on and all around that road. You really can- 
not understand the opportunity and duty that is up to 
every one of us. We have left our boys back at the front 

[ 62 ] 



CHA'FTET^VI 

cheerfully keeping theBoche busy, while we, for two solid 
months, live in the fields of southern France, with the 
fields and gardens and quiet villages on all sides and your 
conscience asks you, — when you go back are you going 
to be able to help advise and lead the boys you left fight- 
ing for your country? f. r. a. 

Q^UgUSt 21 

By candle light in an old French fort. Oh, it is lovely 
here in a little living-room for the officers made just as 
homelike as any place I have ever been in, with little pic- 
tures on the walls and flowers and a big table with maga- 
zines and games. 

But you forget everything except home as you listen 
to the piano with two big candles on each side of it and 
then dark all around. The wonderful old tunes resound 
up into the towers and down the stone corridors. They 
are playing '' Memories." It is wonderful, and I think of 
my childhood, and my family gave me the very happiest. 
Would n't it be great if I could give them just as happy 
an old age. Believe me, this war makes you really appre- 
ciate everybody and everything. Somehow a Star of Hap- 
piness seems to be guiding me from one happy place to 
another. I am here for about six weeks to learn the newest 
methods of finishing the Boche and taking them back to 
the wonderful, brave, kind, generous, simple-minded 

C ^3 ] 



OIS^THE FISLD OF HO^^OR 

trustful boys I left, back where the dead Boche and dead 
horses are rotting everywhere and the shells filled with 
a rotten gas are coming over at all times and leave blis- 
ters all over the body and try to get the lungs of the poor 
boys. They are playing "The End of a Perfect Day," and 
it makes you wish you were back there with them watch- 
ing this big wonderful August moon rise over the barbed 
wire and swamps. Instead, I am here in the loveliest part 
of France with every luxury, with the moon streaming 
through narrow windows and spreading out on the floor 
between huge arches. I feel as if I were in a dream ; just 
think I am back at college again with all its opportunities 
and friendships. There are one thousand officers in this 
ideal college, all working in the same cause. In my class 
there are forty-five. We are specializing in the Stokes 
Mortar and One-Pounder Cannon. It is mighty interesting 
with the best American, French, and English instructors, 
and I hope I make a good standing because when I go 
back these two methods are a very excellent way of dis- 
posing of Boche in bunches. 

They are playing " The Sunshine of Your Smile," so 
let's forget about the Boche. I am in a very beautiful spot 
on the summit of a round, smooth hill, where by going 
away from the crowd I can sit under a little tree with 
the wind blowing gently. And I can just think and look 
below into the valleys on all sides. In the early morning 

c 64 : 



CHATTET^VI 

the sun rises with the smoke streaming out of the chim- 
neys of the little villages nestled among the pines and 
hollows. And after a day's work and drill I sit after sup- 
per and see the sun sink below the trees and the moon 
come up like a big red ball. Everything is quiet and peace- 
ful, and there is nothing to break the silence but the" chu- 
chu" of an evening train winding from village to village, 
bringing the young girls and old men back from their 
work in the larger towns to their homes. Thank God they 
know naught of War down here where the birds are 
happy and the cows and sheep graze without being 
harmed. 

I don't know why I have written all this stuff, but the 
music has just guided my pencil, and after battered towns, 
dead bodies, suffering families, and devastated fields, all 
you most think of is love and beauty. f. r. a. 

(August 27 
Well, most of the Company moved after a ride on the 
train on trucks to our new camp, but yours truly, being 
a new "louey,'' was put in charge of the leavings of 
the battalion ( a few left-overs ) and hiked with the regi- 
mental transports for four days. It was some trip, but any 
one with experience with troops will tell you that Infan- 
try should never march with a transport. It was most dis- 
couraging because of halts and delays. We were right in 

C 65 3 



(y\THE FIELD OF HO'^R 

the middle of the divisional transport, and it was one of 
the most wonderful things I have seen. I should say the 
whole thing was a few miles long and stretched back 
along the road as far as you could see. There was the ar- 
tillery, the ammunition train, supply train, machine-gun 
transport, and infantry transport ( each company had in- 
dividually a rolling kitchen, a water cart, a ration limber, 
an ammunition limber, and a G. S. wagon for miscella- 
neous stuff). Our route lay across the battlefields of one 
of the late pushes and this alone was a wonderful sight 
for a novice and , as Pop would say, — I '11 tell you all about 
it when I get home. Nevertheless, the Boche had his wind 
up and sure turned tail and beat it across France here. 
Let's hope he don't stop, and by the way, from what I 
hear now, the British have him running. 

Well, I at last reached my Company again and deliv- 
ered my detail of " duds " to our respective companies. A 
little later we started in on our tour in the line and a diet 
of" corned woolly " and hard tack. ( When I get back to 
the States where I can laugh at a can of woolly without 
fear, I'll have a can of it set up on a pedestal where I can 
thumb my nose at it every day just for the sake of Auld 
Lang Syne. ) Let me say right here that we often while 
in support positions get fresh vegetables and meat, but 
you see up front there can be no cooking because of the 
smoke which would draw artillery fire. Artillery is more 

C 66 ] 



CHAH'TE^VI 

active here, of course, than before in my last sector and 
the guns boom constantly. Many curious things happened 
from the action of these shells and of course many sad — 
but here is a funny thing I heard of. A limber and two 
mules was going along and a shell landed right between 
the front legs of one of the mules. It blew the mules apart 
right out of the harness and sent the driver flying out 
of the seat, — but never injured either the mules or the 
driver! 

Most of the time I did not live in a trench, but in a 
hole dug in the ground and covered over. I guess they 
expect to move forward soon, so there are no trenches 
being built, but Fritz has no trenches either. I suppose 
when we settle down for the winter we'll have trenches. 

I just missed getting into a scrap one morning. I un- 
fortunately was sent back to the rear on a job by the 
Major. ( Incidentally I took back some Boche prisoners to 
deliver to the authorities. ) The Boche began cutting up 
and my platoon had a chance to get into action. Several 
prisoners were taken and many of the boys had a chance 
to get their Boche, and are now sporting an Iron Cross. 
1 was sorry as the deuce I did not get into it with them. 

A. E. A. 



L 67 ] 



CHAPTER VII 

(August 29 

SOON after my taking up my new duties we moved 
— a long jump — to a new sector, — a sector much 
more active and right in the thick of things. We went 
up to the line in our turn. Nothing happened until just 
before we came out; then one morning, just at dawn, the 
Germans put over a barrage, and followed up with a 
determined attack. 

We had quite a scrap, but I can tell you only this,— 
I had several narrow escapes and yet was never even 
scratched. Now the battalion is back at rest and mail long 
delayed has been handed over to us to devour. To-day, 
as I was buried in my mail, came an order sending me 
to a school near here, — a two weeks' course in just the 
work I like, so I am very happy. 

Now, more than ever, there are so many things that 
I'd like to tell you about that I can't, — inside dope, — 
real stuff! But now, more than ever, I am on my honor to 
keep such things secret. All goes well, I mean the War 
in general, — and I really begin to hope that we are ap- 
proaching the end. 

The mail, — what a pure delight it was. I sat down and 
arranged it all chronologically and then opened each one 
with joy. 

Two queer things, proving the essential smallness of 

C 68 ] 



CHATTET(^VII 

the world, have happened. When I joined the Company 
I was told that there was one officer away on detached 
service; I thought nothing of it, but the other day he 
came back and behold it was Dick Small, — Harvard '16, 
— a fraternity brother of mine. What a reunion we had 
talking over old times. It made it very pleasant for both 
of us because we were the closest friends during my jun- 
ior year. 

Again, I was opening one of Pa's letters and out popped 
a httle booklet entitled "The Angier Idea." Albert 
Angier, who was commissioned with me in this battalion, 
said — "Hello, there's one of my father's booklets." And 
so he asked me to have Pa copy out such parts of Lang- 
staff's letter as pertain to the battalion in general ( he is 
in L Company ) and send these to his Father, explaining 
how it came about. That will be another way his people 
hear about him, indirectly. 

I won't be with my company now for some time, — 
detached at this school, — and I expect a good rest and 
profitable schooling. So cheer up and don't worry. I am 
disgracefully safe and like the Boston Garter, *' No metal 
can touch me." 

Got a wonderful box of fudge from Kathleen Kinney, 
which was brought to me when we were having an 
officers' meeting and was consumed as follows: 

c 69 : 



0*i\^rHE FISLD OF H01SQR 



The Colonel 


18 pieces 


T7ie Major 


10 pieces 


Four Captains (each') 


8 pieces 


Sundry Lieuts. (each) 


4 pieces 


Myself 


3 pieces 



But we sure did enjoy it, particularly the Colonel. 

E. G. 

This was the last letter Gene wrote. He completed his 
course at school on the fourth of September and hastened 
back to his company, which was just beginning a fierce 
engagement north of Fismes. 

Only a few days before he had received his promotion 
to ist Lieutenancy, and it is noteworthy that he was the 
youngest First Lieutenant in the 77th Division. The fol- 
lowing is quoted from a letter of Lieutenant John Taylor, 
308th Infantry, to Eugene's father: 

" Lieutenant Galligan was in command of Co. K, 308th 
Infantry, from the 5th of Sept. until the morning of the 
9th, when he met a hero's death. On Sept. 5 we had a par- 
ticularly fierce engagement with the Huns. Lieutenant 
Bampton was then in command of Co. K. At 6 a.m. we 
attacked the Hun, and our whole battalion was simply 
swept by machine-gun fire, and to make matters worse 
the Hun artillery opened on us and our casualties were 
unusually severe. We were fully exposed to our front 

c 70 : 



CHATTET^Vn 

and a big Hun observation balloon a mile away could 
see our every move. Lieutenant Bampton was sent to the 
rear severely shell-shocked. I was commanding Co. I and 
was on the right of Co. K in the attack. We were forced 
to fall back to a sunken road and a railroad embank- 
ment to gather our scattered forces together. 

"Your son came to us, having been away at school, 
just at the critical time. With but a few men of Co. K 
that could be found he volunteered to go forward that 
night at dusk with the rest of us. After a heavy artillery 
preparation we forced our way through the German lines 
and reached the Butte de Bourmont, a high hill near the 
town of Revillon. This is about six miles north of Fismes, 
a city on the Vesle River. We were up close to the Aisne 
River and the Chemin-des-Dames, a formidable ridge 
paralleling the river on the north side. On the morning 
of Sept. 6th we were dug-in in a small wood close to the 
Aisne River. Your son and I had the same Headquarters 
as our two companies were quite close together. That 
night we moved back to the high hill called the ' Butte 
de Bourmont,' on the side of which was an excellent 
trench system built by the French some time during the 
war. His company took the left half of the trench and 
mine the right sector. We had a good dug-out, well pro- 
tected by heavy timber, in the centre of our sectors. 

*' On Sept. 8th, just before dark, your son with his com- 

[ 71 ] 



O'JS^ THE FIELD OF HO':sgR 

panv and I with mine were sent over to the right of our 
position to attack Revillon, a Hun stronghold. There is 
an open plain there for one thousand yards and we used 
darkness to cover our advance. Company L and Company 
M were in support right behind us. We got awav in fine 
style and had machine guns on the high hill behind us 
peppering the Hun line, firing over our heads as we ad- 
vanced. We kept a fine skirmish line and did not have a 
casualty while crossins: to the Hun barbed wire. We o^ot 
over the wire in the dark, and then trouble started. Bright 
flares came up from all directions and we would fall flat 
on our faces so as not to be seen. Soon we got into a Hun 
first-line trench which was very shallow. At this point the 
Huns started to enfilade our flanks with machine-o-un fire. 
There were no Huns in that first trench, but suddenly, 
while I was having a conference with your son as to our 
next move, one oi^ my men from the left flank cried out, 
'We have a prisoner! ' As this was my first Hun prisoner 
I wanted to see him and, through an interpreter, question 
him as to the number of machine guns in our direct front. 
I ran along the top of the bank until I came to where he 
was. A couple of my men had him sitting down on the 
bottom of the trench. A flare came up and I saw his face 
distinctly. Just as I got my interpreter seated to quiz him 
there was a sudden commotion in the trench and a terrific 
explosion. In some way a Hun had crept up a communi- 

" C TO 



CHATTEI^Vn 

eating trench which we had n't seen in the dark and, hear- 
ing his comrade giving away information, he put a hve 
hand grenade in his comrade's lap, — meaning to kill him, 
for dead men tell no tales. It went off with terrible effect, 
for the prisoner had his body badly mangled and my in- 
terpreter lost one foot. By a miracle I escaped serious 
injury. My sergeant saw the Hun trying to get back after 
doing his dirty work and emptied his automatic into him. 
Needless to say, he was n't worth picking up. 

" Just at that time we received an order to retire back to 
the hill, as an attack had failed over to the right of our bat- 
talion sector. We got back, prisoner and all. I was taken to 
a first aid station and later in the ambulance to a field 
dressing station. I saw your son just before I left Battalion 
Headquarters to go to the rear. He wished me good luck, 
and I thanked him. The next morning I was plenty strong 
enough and returned to my company to find that early 
that morning in an advance trench your son met a swift 
end by a high explosive shell. He showed unusual cour- 
age and was a shining example to the men. I felt as 
though I had lost a lifetime friend and I had known him 
but a short while. I '11 say this for your son, — he would 
never send his men where he would n't go himself. He 
was always calm and cheerful, even under shell-fire, and 
was a noble example of a Christian young man. He was 
loved by all who knew him, and his men worshipped the 

C 73 ] 



OIS^THE FIELD OF HO'^R 

ground he walked on. They tell me he died with a smile 
on his face, with the light of Heaven in his eyes." 

The following letter was written to Dr. Galligan by 
Lieutenant Howell D. Stevens: 

"The only time I had the good fortune to meet your 
son was Aug. 20th, on the Vesle. Eugene had just come 
out of the line. He had been on continuous duty for three 
days and four nights and was naturally very much ex- 
hausted. His company, which had been on outpost duty 
across the Vesle, had been attacked by a whole German 
battalion and had suffered very severe losses. Your son 
was too modest to speak of his own personal exploits in 
the attack, but I learned from several of the men in his 
platoon that he not only displayed heroic courage but 
also excellent judgment in the crises. And praise coming 
directly from a Lieutenant's own men ( who are usually 
prone to criticise their immediate superiors ) means infi- 
nitely more than any tribute a general or colonel could 
possibly pay. 

" On Aug. 20th he was cheerful and smiling even after 
the terrific strain to which he had been subjected. I never 
saw him after that. He was at the head of his platoon when 
the end came. 

*' I have never heard one ill word spoken about Eugene 
by any ofiicer or man in the regiment. He was loved in 
life and revered in death. No man who went to France 

C 74 ] 



CHATTE%^VII 

had a finer record in the line than he. His memory is and 
ever will be enshrined in the hearts of his men. He was a 
true American, a loyal patriot, and a real crusader in a 
Great Cause." 

Appreciations of Eugene's noble character and high- 
minded life could be multiplied many fold, but there is no 
need. His life and death speak for themselves. He lived a 
happy life, appreciating the beautiful, always giving the 
best in him to his world and so always getting the most 
out of that world. He was much admired at school and 
college, and all who met him became his friends. He did 
not seek popularity, it came to him naturally. His short 
career in the army won him rapid promotion and the love 
of all his men and associates. Bravely he met the last great 
test of a soldier, unflinching, *' with a smile on his face " 
he laid down his life to uphold the Right. 



C 75 J 



Colonel Whittlesey: 
'■'' I knew him intimately and admired him immensely." 

Captain Graham: 
" He would not send his men where he would not go him- 
self." 

A Lieutenant of the 308**^: 
^' There was no better or bra\er officer serving under the flag 
than Lieutenant Eugene Galligan." 




,^^^ir^ ^i€ii I e limit (j uyene^/n/lu^(t n 



CHAPTER VIII 

(i^ugust 29 

THERE is always something to keep your interest 
up while you're up there. When we started back we 
thought it all over, but we had gone about a kilometre 
through woody roads, — then out into a field, — when we 
began to see shells burst ahead of us to the right. It was 
dark and I was leading the Company out, in a long col- 
umn. We veered to the left and it seemed that the Boche 
moved his fire to the left. The shells were whistling over 
and dropping ahead of us pretty steadily when one went 
"Whiz-zz-zz Bam!" Down we flopped and the pieces 
went flying just over our backs a few yards away and 
not a man hurt! I thought to myself, *' that's a bit close," 
— so we about-faced and back to the woods with gas 
masks on, for he had mixed a bit of mustard into the bar- 
rage he had laid down on the road ahead of us. I gathered 
in all the sheep when we reached the woods, and we went 
on our way again after things had quieted down a bit. We 
landed back in camp O. K. with only two men gassed 
after passing through nothing else but a thunder-storm. 
It's a great life, doggone it! I don't see how anything 
is going to worry me when I get back to the States, — 
ordinary troubles will be pleasures! 

I just missed getting into a scrimmage with the Boche, 
but unfortunately was not with the Company when they 

C 77 ] 



OlS^THE FIELD OF HOl^R 

got into it. It happened I was taking someBoche prisoners 
back to the rear. A few of the officers now have some iron 
crosses, Boche pistols, field glasses, etc. for souvenirs. 

One Lieutenant captured a Boche machine gun single 
handed and then had it turned about the other way. One 
of the boys in my Company got a piece of shrapnel in 
the hand, — and just then a Boche Red Cross man came 
along, so they captured him and had him dress it. They 
said he did a good job. 

The prisoners I have seen are not bad looking, — but 
they are by no means big, strong fellows. They look sort 
of meek and tired and not sorry to be taken. There were 
one or two young ones in the bunch. a. e. a. 

(^August 30 
Tell Don that the hifantry is the hardest game of the 
lot. We get all the hard work and the "dough-boys" 
will deserve the glory when they get back. The Infantry 
is making the real fight and suffering the real hardships, 
— but in many ways I 'm glad I chose it, and, by gosh, I 'm 
going to stick! Trust in God, Mother, to bring us all 
through. A. E. A. 

Extracts from Diary of A. E. A. 
(iy€ugust 1 . Heard we are about to leave Meriel to-night 
for fourteen mile hike. Rest all day. Marched to Damas 

C 78 ] ' 



CHATTET^VIII 

au Bois in fine style. This Company marches much better 
than others in 305th. As we marched along through a 
French town I heard a Scotch air whistled and then a 
voice, — "Gud nicht, laddies." Some life. This in France. 
All nationalities. 

August 14. Nothing happens. Sleeping in holes under 
the noses of a blooming battery. 

d/^ugust 15. Same. 

Several never-to-be-forgotten days, ten as support 
Company of first line. Lts. Case and Garde killed. Moved 
back at last away from corned woolly, salmon, and sand 
to Bois de Pisotte — then back beyond Sergy only to re- 
turn in a couple of days to Blue line with Company M 
and Lt. Miles. Examined for promotion. Scarcity of offi- 
cers, — not alone casualties, but relieved and returned to 
the States as instructors. 

September 4. The Boche pulled out in evening and we 
crossed the Vesle, following 2nd Battalion. Marched all 
night. Two hours rest. Passed thru Bn. in advance. 

September 5. In morning this Company in first wave ran 
into Boche east of Merval. Machine guns stopped us on 
a line already registered by their artillery. Fell back to 
road in evening. Major McNeil took Bn. forward thru 
Several to Woods north of Butte de Bourmont. Lt. Miles 

[ 79 ] 



O'^THE FISLD OF HO'^R 

to hospital. I took command of Company. Right in among 
Boche M'G's and batteries. 

September 7. Missed a crack at twelve Boche who pulled 
out from hill behind us and walked off with one of our 
liaison posts on road. 

September 8. In a.m. had narrow escape while patrolling 
woods on flank with two men, one of whom was 
wounded by snipers. In evening attacked Boche in front 
of Revillon — very short notice. Fell back to wood. Ma- 
chine-gun fire too strong. Only three of original Bn. offi- 
cers left. 
September 1 o. Received notice of promotion to 1 st Lieut. 

September 11. Woke up after first night's sleep in six 
days. Had had but four or five hours sleep in six days, — 
literally, — but somehow felt pretty well just the same. 
Probably the good food we've been having, — our kitch- 
ens coming up saved the situation. 

September 2 
This is a queer War we are fighting here. To-day, we 
are in a woods back in support, resting and digging. 
This a.m. I stretched my limbs in a cold and clammy 
dug-out, a hole about six by four feet and four deep, cov- 
ered over with limbs and dirt. That was about 7.30 a.m., 
— the Company was getting chow outside. We can cook 

C 80 ] 



CHATTET^VIII 

over open fires here being careful about smoke and not 
lighting a fire before daybreak. Well, soon, my striker 
informed Lieutenant Miles and myself that breakfast was 
ready and we crawled out, put on our gas masks and 
helmets and we were dressed for breakfast. Toast, bacon, 
coffee and jam. The latter is enjoyed mostly by hornets, 
who flock about and incidentally drown themselves in 
the coffee. One this morning rode on a piece of toast 
and jam to my mouth, then sat down hard on my upper 
lip, which is now swollen and sore. 

After breakfast I went out to where the Company is 
digging, then looked over our position to take in case of 
attack, and returned to camp for the rest of the morn- 
ing to read and write. About i p.m. we had noon mess. 
Steak, fried potatoes, toast, jam, celery, and coffee. You 
say " Not bad, eh ! " No, not so worse, considering. We 're 
feeding pretty well. I am just getting over an attack of 
dysentery I got in the front line last time in. This food 
and a little exercise sets one up again. 

Well, after noon mess, we picked out a place for a 
Company Headquarters dug-out and, expecting to stay 
here a few days, we are having a real one made with beau- 
coup dirt on top. These lighter holes are good protection 
against anything except a direct hit. We 're putting two 
layers of logs and dirt over our new one, which ought to 
stop a direct hit by a 77,or whizz-bang, and maybe a 105. 

C 8' ] 



Ol^THE FIELD OF H01{0R 

These old whizz-bangs are great stuff and I'll say they 
get one's wind up. You hear the report of the gun, then 
immediately whizz-bang ! It may be three hundred yards 
ofF or twenty-five yards. There 's little time to pick out 
a hole, — just make yourself look like a pancake, — but 
you feel as big as a barn door. 

Just for excitement, a big limber went down the road 
a few yards from us just before I started this letter. We 
heard a whiz-z-z (sort of increases in speed as it gets 
near you, — then — a pause and) Bam! Just over, by 
gosh! We all make a bee-line for our holes just like rab- 
bits or prairie-dogs when a train goes by. A few dropped 
short along the road and we curse the limber for moving 
in daylight! Things quiet down and we stick our heads 
out, look around, and crawl out. 

About thirty minutes later. It is now evening mess time. 
Here's hoping it's another substantial meal! At this point 
in letter a Boche plane flies over. Machine guns and arch- 
ies poop off at it and we take cover to avoid falling pieces 
of shrapnel. Such is life for the Infantry at rest ! Few 
casualties, — but now and then a heart throb. 



A. E. A. 



September 3 
W^ell, Mr. Ward, I picked a winner when I picked the 
Infantry, and to tell you the truth, — although I have not, 

C 82 ] 



CHATTE%^VIII 

of course, told my family this, — a Lieutenant of Infantry 
has not got much of a show in this game. You probably 
realize this from what you have already seen of the war. 
I am going to put all I have into it, and God grant that 
I get back home, if it's only for my family's sake. When 
it's over, if I am still on deck, I'll know that I've done as 
much as anybody to knock out the beast, and if I pay the 
big sacrifice, my family can rest assured that I have not 
flinched in my duty. a. e. a. 

This letter to Mr. Ward is one of the last Al wrote. Not 
rushing blindly ahead without counting the sacrifice, but 
fully realizing that he would probably not return, Albert 
steadfastly and cheerfully kept on, a wonderful example 
to his men of coolness and courage under fire, of utter 
fearlessness. 

During the early days in September Albert had com- 
mand of his company and led them through the fiercest 
kind of fighting. He received his promotion to a First 
Lieutenancy on the loth of September, less than two 
months after being commissioned. 

The 1 2th of September the Battalion — what was left of 
them — ** went over "on an attack on Revillon,a very well 
organized and heavily defended German strong point 
which had repulsed all previous attempts of the Ameri- 
cans to capture it. Once before Al's battalion had at- 

L 83 ] 



OT^THE FIELD OF HC^R 

tacked and almost taken Revillon, but had finally been 
forced to retire because of failure of units on the flank to 
reach their allotted objective. Al, at the head of his men, 
led them over the open ground which they must cross 
to reach Revillon, subjected to a deadly raking fire from 
German machine guns and snipers. Soldiers all around 
him were hit; an automatic rifleman fell wounded. Al 
picked up his chauchat and rushed on, encouraging his 
men and firing the gun as he advanced. Only a few min- 
utes later Albert himself was hit, and though mortally 
wounded, retained consciousness. His sergeant, who was 
following behind, took him in his arms but Albert ordered, 
— " Lay me down and look after the other men." Even 
at that time, with a fatal wound, he thought so little of 
himself and so entirely for his men that he refused aid in 
order that others might have it. Brave and unselfish to 
the last, Albert, at the very moment of his death, in- 
sisted that to some of his less seriously wounded sol- 
diers be given the assistance of which he himself w^as 
in the gravest need. To the nobility of a heroic death, he 
added that last act of self-sacrifice. 

Lieutenant Taylor wrote: "I arrived on the scene with 
reinforcements, having been ordered up just a few min- 
utes after, and I will never forget the look in that boy's 
face. The smile was still there." 

[ 84 ] 



CHA^TE^K^VIII 

Albert once told Larry that one of his principles was 
this, that: 

" It is better to die for an ideal and live forever^ 
Than live for nothing' and die forever.'''' 

It is given to few of us to live up to our ideals, but 
Albert's full, happy life left nothing unfulfilled. He will 
surely "live forever" with all who knew him. 

He always won the love of his associates at home, at 
school, and in the army. Schoolmates at Thacher write: 
" Albert's straightforward manliness, good judgment, and 
warmhearted kindness early won us to him, and time has 
only served to increase his place in our affections." 

From the very first, all in C Company of the 305th, 
both officers and men, respected and admired him. Quiet 
and unobtrusive, he did his work thoroughly and well and 
was ever ready to help out some one else when his own 
work was finished. In the signal school which Al and 
I had in the company for training runners and liaison 
agents, he quickly gained the men's confidence, and had 
endless patience and care for those who did not get on 
to the work easily. The men implicitly trusted him and 
he was always able to settle any disputes or disagree- 
ments, both sides seeming to be satisfied with what he 
thought was the right. They knew he was absolutely fair 
and impartial. 

Captain O'Shea of Company C writes, in a letter to 

C 85 ] 



aiS^THE FI8LD OF HOIS^R 

Albert's Father: '* I had the pleasure of personally know- 
ing Lieutenant Angier, while he was attached to this Com- 
pany awaiting his commission. I had the benefit of his 
assistance, his inspiring example to the men, his cheerful- 
ness and faithfulness to duty, — and sorrow, too, on his 
departure to join the 308th. I have indeed the sorrow that 
is yours, but the pride in knowing that he gave his life in 
a cause in which he so firmly believed. May I say, — and I 
do say so honestly, — I express not only my own sorrow 
but the sympathy and sorrow of my entire Company. 
With us he still lives and shall ever live, — he has not 
gone from us but lives in eternal happiness." 

Larry Austin, in one of his letters home, dated June 
25th, said: " My chum, Albert Angier, is doing wonder- 
fully well, — he is in Company C, in charge of the liaison 
work in his Company, and we get together every Satur- 
day night and Sunday to talk over College, home, and 
news, and we understand one another and are really still 
the same good friends, and I guess that War or nothing 
else can separate us. He is a man, and his Mother would 
be proud to see how fine a man, and with what fine ideals 
he is working and helping every one he comes in contact 
with. His cheerfulness and fairness have won the love and 
trust of all Company C, and when he gets his commission 
they will lose one of their best boys. If any one of you see 
his Mother, I would like to have you tell her how fine and 

[ 86 ] 



CHATTET^rill 

straight a path her son — my best friend — is following in 
this game." 

Al played the game of the soldier and officer as he 
played the game of life, cleanly, fairly, taking no advan- 
tage and asking none, keeping his soul pure and his mind 
high, living up to his ideals, and when the time came 
cheerfully sacrificing his life that these ideals might live. 

LIEUTENANT ALBERT E. ANGIER 
Living- — On the Field of Honor 

Gentle^ cowteou-s\ sweet and hrave^ 

His duty shone like a splendid star^ 
Guiding' him far over misty seas 

As Freedom s Pledge in the shock of rvar. 

Blending his blood ivith the best in France^ 

His life a gift to the cause he chose^ 
Facing the East xvith a stubborn pride^ 

Ringed by a circle of f eld gray foes. 

Knowing his love for the God of Right., 
Glimpsing his heart as he paid the price^ 

Ours is not to mourn his loss 

Nor count the cost of his sacrifce. 

Ours to take up the Broken Threads 

From the hands that might not complete the skein., 

Ours to fnish the task begun 

That our dead., who slumber., may live again. 

Harry C. Walker 



C 87 3 



CITATION FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS 

1st Lieut. Albert E. Axgirr (^deceased) oOSth Intantn- — 
on September 14tli, 1918, in the attack near i?tv///5/j when his 
Battalion advanced, this Officer, in command of a platoon of 
Company M, o08th Infantr\-, continued to lead his men though 
wounded. Bv his own personal coiuxige and example, he ui-ged 
them forward through enemy wire to their objective. Even 
when mortallv wounded, he continued to direct the consolida- 
tion of his platoon's position, retiising medical attention in 
favor of others who had a better chance to live than himself. 



CHAPTER IX 

September 5 

IT being Saturday I shall celebrate with my friend Bill 
Manley in Langes, where, if it is a starlight evening, 
we can walk around the walls of the city built in the time 
of the Romans and gaze down on the plains and villages 
far below. We have engaged the same room I had the 
first week with my friend, Lt. Rodenbeck. I feel positive 
Bill will fall in love with my little girl (age 13) and her 
splendid mother. I shall pretend she is Kia and bring her 
some little surprise. I am looking forward to helping her 
with English because she studies so hard and is so keen 
and bright. 

Yes, as you know by this time, Al and I are separated, 
but never can be separated in thought and we keep in 
touch by mail, and as you know we are all tearing all over 
France, continually meeting fellows we know, so I really 
expect to see him some time soon. f. r. a. 

September 10 
I shall have to ask you to help me out. I am like the 
little old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many 
children she did n't know what to do. Just after supper 
I received the most precious bundle of mail direct from 
Paris, and once I got it into my hands I thrust it into my 
innermost pocket, right near my heart. Then to the little 

C 8.9 ] 



Or^THE FIELD OF HCT^OR 

open fire and dark little corner and lamp. It is a dark and 
storm V night and the wind is whistling through the arches 
and the rain is pattering against the windows and the 
clouds rush by the hidden moon. Just a wonderful night 
to spend with those you so often think of. f. r. a. 

September lo 
It is very very late so I must blow out the candle and 
say good-night. I say my prayers and I know you are lis- 
tening to them. Each night I pray mostly that you are all 
happy and it is wonderful to know that you are thinking 
of me, but I should be sad if I thought you were worrying 
because there is not a single blessed thing to \\ orry about 
when God is here to look after things. f. r. a. 

September 13 
While vou are away your friends and family count for 
more and more, and they become your favorite topic for 
thought and bond between friends. 

To-night Bill Manley and I had our farewell party at 
the little home I wrote you about in the village. \\'e pre- 
pared a little treat and packed our Musette Bags and set 
down the hill just at sunset. We arrived just as they were 
preparing supper, ^^other, Father, Aunt, and Daughter. 
We always shake hands and spend the evening as if we 
were part of the family, and leave with happy hearts, 

L 90 ] 



CHA'TTET^IX 

because we have done some little thing to change the 
monotony of their life and they have filled us with clean 
thoughts of the dear country peasant of France. 

They knew it was my last night and kind of expected 
we might get down for supper. Germaine was lovelier 
than ever with her cheery laugh and smile, and wore a 
beautiful simple frock she must have made herself, so 
spotless and fresh. Her mother had a corking supper, 
fresh bread, omelet, and salad. It takes a long time for sup- 
per because we chat with Pater, Bill chats and kids me 
along, and I smile and look wise and throw in a monosyl- 
lable every once in a while. We took out a fat seegar to 
offer *' Old Scout," when Germaine went quietly to the 
cupboard and what do you think she brought forth — a 
great big sugar-plum pie! It was a wonderful pie — but 
what won our hearts was the spirit in which it was given. 
They probably haven't been so lavish since the begin- 
ning of the war. We made them happy just eating it as 
we would at home. 

It was great when we said good-by and they wished 
us good luck and we knew how sincere it was. It is so 
much more fun to carry away to the front a happy friend- 
ship than a couple of wild days in Paris. f. r. a. 

This is a letter to Charlie Eliot, whom Larry, on his way 
back from Langes, met for a few minutes in Paris when 

I 91 ] 



(y\THE FIELD OF HO^R 

Charlie was on his way back to the States after driving an 
ambulance on the Italian front. 

September 1 7 

Please carry across the sea all the love straight from 
my heart to all those who mean so much to me. Please see 
my mother in Jamaica Plain, or if you arrive before Octo- 
ber, try and see her or write her in Cataumet. 

You can explain in words what I can't express in writ- 
ing, that to a fellow who is over here his family and the 
friends he left behind are his little world he works for 
and thinks of every minute. I have been so happy every 
minute of the time I have been over here and one of the 
finest things was just to see you for one little second, — so 
you can tell my messao;e to them. 

It 's a fellow's family and friends who make a fellow, 
and there are some friends that can never be forgotten 
through time, distance, or lack of liaison. f. r. a. 

September 21 
Am back with the company again, and we are in the 
heart of the largest and most wild and beautiful forest in 
France. It reminds me somehow of Maine, but every- 
where there are tall oaks instead of pines. It is a lovely 
September afternoon with the clouds floating by through 
the opening in the trees and trees bending to the gentle 
breeze. Another Lieutenant and I are sitting at a little 

.L 92 ] 



CHA'TTE%JX 

table censoring mail and making a few notes on the or- 
ganization of our platoons. 

I have so much good news to tell you I don't know 
where to begin. First and foremost is that Al Angier has 
been promoted to a First Lieutenant and has been in com- 
mand of his company for several weeks and is also in 
marvelous health. Next, the 77th Division is right here 
with us in the same forest, and yesterday I went over and 
saw my old D Company, 305th, and I needn't tell you 
how wonderful it was to see them all again, especially 
Lieutenant Tweedy, who is now Captain Tweedy of the 
Company, and all the boys in my 3rd Platoon. They all 
told me their little private history. Just the ones I had 
picked as real men have done real men's work. Gee, I 
was thrilled! 

Then last night the officers in my present company 
and the other officers in the companies next door got 
together and in a little dug-out, by candle-light, I heard 
all the news of our battalion. I had the loveliest chat with 
Holly Whitney, who has been acting Captain of H Com- 
pany for the past week, — he is a wonderful fellow and 
corking soldier. He told me about Gus Aspinwall and 
what a splendid leader he was, — it seems Gus was tak- 
ing a patrol of twenty men and the Germans spotted him 
with a machine-gun bullet. Gus was just as calm after 
he was hit and simply told his men to go right ahead 

C 93 ] 



Ol^THE FI8LD OF HOT^OR 

with their work. When our boys could get out to them 
they gave Gus a little burial right on the Field of Glory 
where I am sure he will be happy. f. r. a. 

September 22 
I just must tell you about my boys while I was away 
at school. I can't tell you in writing just what I think of 
them, and when they get back to a training area and I 
have a chance to tell them and give them a little picnic 
of some sort, you bet I will do it. In the first place, when 
I left for school, the two fine sergeants I wrote you about 
assumed complete command of the platoon, and they 
were just the finest men you can picture in your mind. 
Well, the word came down for the advance and my 
platoon was picked to be the very first wave. At the 
appointed time, my sergeants had the men all organized 
and ready and off" they went, each sergeant at the head 
of his section. And when all was over they had gained 
two kilos of ground and each man had fought his battle 
forward; staying cutting the barbed wire with machine 
guns spraying all around, they got through, captured the 
machine guns at the top of the hill, dug into the hill, and 
were then O. K. with the Germans yelling "Camerade," 
waving white handkerchiefs, and giving themselves up. 
One of my sergeants got a bullet through his right arm. 
But he just stopped and tied it up a bit and caught up to 

[ 94. ] 



CHA'FTET^IX 

the head of the line and had the Germans just terrorized, 
bayoneting nine even though his right arm wasn't much 
good. He is now in the hospital and writes he is just long- 
ing to get back with the boys, and every one of the boys 
was just like him. My personal runner and the chap that 
looks after my little hut and equipment went over the top 
right with the sergeant, and what do you think he carried 
on his back.^ Two cans of peaches and chocolates and 
cigarettes for the platoon when they captured the new 
position. He is very funny when he tells me all about it. 
One bullet went through the can of peaches and the juice 
ran down his trouser leg, and when he was cutting the 
barbed wire it made a corking barricade for the bullets to 
go through the chocolates. My head sergeant was one of 
the boys killed, and there never was a more beloved or 
braver boy in our whole splendid country. God knows 
how little I can do to make his wife forget, but I am 
writing her a little letter by candle-light just to tell her 
how much the boys loved him and how much he did for 
their happiness and comfort. 

There is nothing rotten about this war and all the pic- 
tures you see in the magazines are bunco, because you 
just live like a happy family, and as long as you know 
your own family at home is well and happy you can do 
anything. The ideals of the men are so fine that it is just 
Heavenly work to be their Lieutenant. f. r. a. 

C 93 ] 



01S[^THE FIELD OF HOTiOR 

September 25 

It is half-past nine and I am in the loveliest little dug- 
out writing by candle-light. At 10.30 we move up on to 
the line, and after a four-hour bombardment w^e go ahead. 
It is my first, and all I pray is that I am worthy of the 
trust of my boys and the trust of you all at home. My 
boys are the finest of our whole splendid country, and I 
realize many are not to return, but they have a spirit of 
love that can never die. Just before supper w^e assembled 
under an oak tree and I told them everything and that 
the only thing that counted was to do their best for those 
they loved at home. 

They are singing and playing cards up there now with 
their rifles all cleaned and pistols ready. Just simple 
farmers ready to give whatever sacrifice is asked of them. 
I shall never be more happy than as the leader of these 
boys if I am worthy. 

I am not writing this to my mother or to any one but 
just you, for I know you understand. In this game as a 
platoon leader the chances are pretty good of being 
killed, but it is the dandiest of them all, and please tell 
my mother, if anything does happen, how much I loved 
them. 

My memories of my friends at home and the little pic- 
ture of my mother in my inside pocket make me just 
happy. F. R. A. 

c 96 :i 



CHA'TTE^JX 

Larry wrote home nothing of the part he played in 
the terrible two weeks of fighting in which the 109th 
participated in the Argonne Forest, but he was one of 
three officers left with the regiment at the time of the 
relief who had been through every bit of the fighting, in 
the front line all the time. Left in command of his com- 
pany early in the engagement, when his Captain was de- 
tailed to mop up heavy woods on our left flank, he led 
his men forward through concentrated German trench 
mortar, mhme-werfer , machine-gun, and artillery fire. 
They kept " pushing" for days without food; wet to the 
skin by cold driving rains the second day out, they were 
never dry for two weeks thereafter, and at night when 
not advancing flopped down in muddy shell-holes to 
sleep or shiver. For several days Larry with his men had 
the very important position of contact patrol or advance 
guard for our regiment. He was sent ahead to locate and 
first come in contact with the Boche lines. This mission 
he accomplished with great skill and success, and sent 
back several messages which allowed our artillery to 
clear the ground ahead and thus make possible the ad- 
vance of the rest of the regiment. 

I was at regimental headquarters when Larry re- 
ported back to the major when his patrol was called in, 
and I shall never forget how he looked as he came into 
the dug-out. Haggard from loss of sleep, scratched and 

C 97 ] 



O^THE FIELD OF HOIS^R 

bloody, soaking wet, his clothes literally hanging in rib- 
bons, torn to shreds by the barbed wire, he marched in 
with a great smile on his face, cheerful and happy as he 
could be, and would hardly wait for the major to finish 
his instructions, so eager was he to be back on the line 
with his "boys." 



[ .98 : 



CHAPTER X 

WHEN at college in the spring and summer of 
1917, we had the great privilege of working 
under Captain Shannon, who had come to Harvard to 
take charge of the military training. By his simplicity, 
his earnestness, his high-minded devotion to duty, he soon 
won our love. He typified the perfect officer and gentle- 
man, and I know we all took him as our example in pre- 
paring ourselves to become officers, and all would have 
asked nothing more than to go into battle under his 
leadership. 

During the first week in the Argonne, the 109th had 
suffered extremely heavy casualties both in officers and 
men. We had had three different commanding officers in 
four days. On October 1st the third regimental com- 
mander was sent back because of sickness and exhaus- 
tion, and Captain Shannon, now a Lieutenant-Colonel, 
came up to lead the regiment in the drive, the crisis of 
which was just approaching. Colonel Shannon had been 
stationed at G. H. Q. in a very responsible position, but 
after many requests for front line duty was given a regi- 
ment on the line. 

Late in the afternoon of October 1 st. Colonel Shannon 
arrived at the regimental P. C. — an open dug-out on the 
reverse slope of a ridge a half kilometer behind Mont- 

n 99 1 



Cy\^THE FieLD OF HO':\gR 

blainville, \\ hich \ve had just captured. He had not been 
at headquarters more than ten minutes when he said, 
" Give me a guide to the Hnes," and was off, and there- 
after he directed operations from the verv front lines. 
Ordinarily the regimental command post is some distance 
behind the front line because the Colonel's life is con- 
sidered of loo much value to be continually exposed to 
the dangers there, but Colonel Shannon could not bear 
to be anywhere but among his troops who were doino- the 
hghting. His presence and example on the line had a 
mc^t inspiring effect on the men. 1 especially remember 
how by his coura^re he saved the day in the first bis: 
counter-attack the Boche threw against us. 

We had just captured Apremont after a fierce hand-to- 
hand encounter. Apremont is built on a hilltop, the Aire 
River flows by the East of the town and open country 
stretches for several kilometers to the North and West, 
so tliat possession of the village gives an extensive field 
of fire. It was a strategic point which the Boche were .de- 
termined to hold. \\'e managed to push our line through 
the village and then set to work to dio; in and strengthen 
the position. After advancing for davs under all kinds of 
fire, cold and wet to the skin and having had little food 
and almost no sleep for a week, the men were utterly 
exhausted, and dropped down scarcely able to dig the 
little holes in the gromid which were our only protection 

"" ICC "" 



CHATTE%JC 

against shell-fire. The officers planned to hold the line at 
Apremont for a day or two until we could get hot food up 
and by keeping heavy guard give the men a chance to 
sleep. Yet we had hardly got into position when the Boche 
counter-attacked in force. About dusk two fresh regi- 
ments of German shock troops " came over" against our 
worn-out men, — of the regiment itself less than half the 
strength with which we started the drive remained. Out- 
numbered four to one and with most of our soldiers so 
tired they could scarcely stand, there seemed little chance 
of holding the village. But just at this moment — the Boche 
were not more than six hundred yards away — Colonel 
Shannon walked down the line among the men and said, 
— " Boys, the whole damn German army could n't take 
this hill to-night." Those few words and the encourage- 
ment of the Colonel had a marvelous effect on the sol- 
diers. It changed them, made new men of them. The fact 
that their Colonel was right there during the attack with 
them, holding his life no dearer than that of the lowest 
doughboy, inspired them and made them unbeatable. 
The Germans did not take the hill. 

It was but three days later when Colonel Shannon fell, 
leading the Regiment in an assault on Chatel Chehery. 



C 'o, 3 



CHAPTER XI 

FOR two days after the counter-attack at Apremont 
the regiment held its position along a sunken road 
on the top of the hill just beyond the village. Larry's com- 
pany and mine lay alongside one another, each man in 
a little hole he had dug at the edge of the road. Not far 
ahead were the Boche lines and between us stretched a 
flat open field — afield where many dead and wounded 
Germans were lying just as they had been shot down 
in the attack. The Germans had not dared to come out 
from their lines to carry back their wounded. They knew 
how often they had used the sign of the Red Cross to 
mask a real attack, and apparently feared, even under 
the protection of the Red Cross, to send parties to bring 
in their fallen comrades. Though our troops, after con- 
tinued treachery, had been forced to mistrust the use of 
the Red Cross by the Boche, they would not have inter- 
fered with small parties of stretcher-bearers, who might 
have come out in perfect safety to take in the wounded. 
No help came, and all day those Germans lay helpless on 
the field in agony from their wounds and exposure. 

Larry was so chivalrous and kind-hearted that he could 
not bear to see any one, even an enemy suffer. After wait- 
ing all day in vain for their own men to help them, he 
decided to go out himself and bring back as many of the 
wounded Germans as he could to our first-aid post for 

C 102 ] 



CHATTET^Xr 

medical attention. He found a stretcher-bearer who vol- 
unteered to go with him and just at dusk went out from 
our lines along the road to the field ahead. The Ger- 
mans immediately opened fire, but Larry did not turn 
back. In spite of their fire he kept on, put a wounded 
German on the stretcher, and brought him in to our lines. 
Once safely back we tried to dissuade Larry from going 
out again. If the Boche were such fools as to fire on him 
when he was taking in their own wounded, surely they 
did not deserve to be rescued. Yet Larry went out again 
and again, — all night long he worked, continually under 
fire and at the constant risk of his life. Each time he 
brought in a suffering, helpless man, who because of the 
undaunted courage and great tenderness of one of their 
enemy was given a chance for medical treatment and for 
life. Rescuing our own wounded under heavy fire is a 
deed for which many have been awarded the Distin- 
guished Service Cross, but carrying to safety at the con- 
stant peril of life wounded enemies who have been aban- 
doned by their own kin is an act of Christianity that has 
rarely been surpassed. And Larry accomplished this act 
not once in the first burst of enthusiasm with comrades 
to cheer him on, but time after time alone in the night 
with only his own bigness of heart to support him. 

Larry really won the Distinguished Service Cross twice. 
The Colonel had decided to recommend him for the Cross 

C 103 ] 



Or^THE FieLD OF H01S[0R 

for an action in the Argonne, but before this recommen- 
dation had been sent to Headquarters came the action at 
Haumont for which the D. S. C. was actually awarded. 
During the latter part of the fighting in the Argonne the 
advance of the 109th was checked by heavy machine- 
gun fire from the right flank. This fire, coming from a 
group of machine-gun nests in a fringe of woods, swept 
with deadly flanking fire the fields which the regiment 
had to pass. There was no artillery available to blast out 
the machine guns, yet it was vital that the regiment con- 
tinue the advance without the long delay which artillery 
support would mean. The tanks which started the attack 
with the regiment had long since been put out of action. 

The Colonel called a conference of his officers as to 
what could be done to silence these machine guns. With 
one exception, the officers maintained they must wait for 
artillery support. They argued that the ground was so 
open, so difficult of approach, that it would be impossible 
to lead men with any hope of success and without extraor- 
dinary casualties against such a heavily defended posi- 
tion. The one exception was Larry. He alone thought it 
would be possible for an officer to take a few men and 
gradually work his way close enough to bomb and rush 
the machine-gun nests. 

Since he had suggested the plan, Larry volunteered to 
make the attempt. He called for volunteers from his com- 

[ 104 ] 



CHATTET^XI 

pany and led the few men chosen to the attack while the 
regiment waited. Largely through his own fearlessness, 
skill, and personal example he kept his men in hand, 
urged them ahead, and finally captured the guns, having 
suffered only very slight casualties. The regiment was 
enabled again to take up the advance. For this act of 
heroism Larry well deserved the D. S. C. which would 
have been awarded had he not won it later at Haumont. 

Throughout the long weeks of fighting Larry was a 
constant source of courage and inspiration to his com- 
rades. Ever cheerful in the worst conditions, ever ready 
to undertake any mission, no matter how difficult or dan- 
gerous, he always succeeded because his men put such 
utter trust in him. At the very blackest moments they 
found him the same reliant, fearless leader who overcame 
all difficulties. His never flagging zeal and hopefulness 
carried them through every trial they had to face in those 
terrible days of struggle. 

How little one could tell from the letters Larry wrote 
home after the drive of the magnificent part he had 
played in it! 

October 13 
I have just climbed out of bed and lighted my little fire 
and also a candle because it is sort of a rainy, cold drizzle 
outside. I have only written one letter to any one in this 

C 105 ] 



(J\^THE FIELD OF HOT^R 

wonderful world since I wrote you the night before going 
into the drive, and that was a note to my dear mother 
yesterday to tell her how happy and well I was. 

Do you remember I thought I would tell you all about 
the battle, but I feel so different now. I brought back no 
souvenirs, no tales, just my boys, well, happy, and alive 
— as many as I possibly could. War is just matter-of-fact, 
nothing like the pictures in magazines or stories. I had 
command of the company in battle for over a week, and 
evervthins: went verv successfully with the aid of "Our 
Father Who Art in Heaven" and mv "Folks" at home. 

I love to think of the Brookline church, and do you 
know last year I just cried at every Sunday service,! loved 
it so. What I love to think about now is my happy times 
at home and the happy times I am having in this little 
French cottag^e, with flowers and a little kitchen and our 
own cook. My roommate is just the corkingest chap from 
Tennessee, and we light our fire and pipes and are at col- 
lege again. Wonderful eats: the boys have warm bar- 
racks and good food and a real rest which they honestly 
have earned. I am just so happy. f. r. a. 

October 12 
Everything is going splendidly and I really think the 
tide has turned and there is now no let-up in the determi- 
nation of the Yanks to win. I think you would be proud of 

: 106 ] 



CHA'FTE^XI 

our boys if you could see them enter battle, afraid of noth- 
ing and always forward. 

I have lost several very good friends in the recent 
fighting, but I know they are happy and know that we 
stand ready to take up the work right where they left off. 
It is men like Gus Aspinwall who show the Boche that no 
sacrifice is too great, and make them realize how useless 
a game they are playing against the determination of the 
Americans and their families at home. 

When at Paris, at school, and through the back areas 
I see supply-officers, instructors, military-police officers, 
railroad officers, etc., I just realize how fortunate I am to 
be where I am — just a little drop in the bucket but with 
the boys that count the most, with a little platoon where 
three hundred to four hundred yards straight to the front 
are the Boche planning how they can come forward and 
destroy the little villages of France and spread their doc- 
trine of war and militarism over the world. I am by no 
means doing a greater service because all work for the 
great cause is equal — but as Charlie Eliot said as he 
shook my hand in the Harvard Club in Paris," I am happy 
and lucky." f. r. a. 

October 12 
During my fourteen days drive forward I received 
exactly fifty-two letters. It is absolutely the finest thing 

[ 107 ] 



O'^THE FISLD OF HCr:\OR 

in the whole world. Every night under cover of darkness 
the mail comes up, and I read your letters and those from 
mv dear Aunts and kind friends in German due-outs, 
in all kinds of shell-holes and small trenches and rainy 
woods. I read some of the funny parts to the bovs who 
don't get mail, and pass around my many, manv maga- 
zines. They were just wonderful, everv single bov I had 
with me. Sometimes only a handful (fifteen or twenty), 
sometimes as many as one hundred and fifty, but all with 
the spirit to do their best, and they all agreed with the 
motto I told them before we started out, — that the only 
thing worth while is that you do right and your con- 
science tells you your family are proud. I recommended 
three for the D. S. C. and four to become officers, and I 
am hoping they get it because they deserve it. 

F. R. A. 

October 13 
I am right on the crest of the wave, so darn happy and 
busy — as you know, I am still in command of the com- 
pany — and in such wonderful health. With a pile of new 
men to organize and train and Lore. We expect a \\ on- 
derful captain, and 1 have been recommended for a First 
Deutenant, but it will take several months for the order 
to come through. f. r. a. 



108 



CHA'FTE^XI 

October \6 
Lieutenant Richards and I have just Hghted our cheery 
fire, and it is great to hear the crackhng of the kindling 
and see the larger wood start to blaze forth and warm up 
our little room. We two are so happy together, just like 
roommates at college, and do our work together, and I tell 
you, we are mighty busy every second — because there 
are so many details to fix and letters to write about every 
one that ever was in the company. 

It has always been the best company in the regiment 
and the one all the boys want to get in, as it has always 
stood for good fellowship, cooperation, and fair play, and 
I hope for the past three weeks, since I have been in 
charge, it has come up to the standard and lived up to the 
ideals. 

To-day I passed my physical examination for First 
Lieutenant, but the appointment is not decided for a long 
time as it has to go to General Headquarters, A. E. F. 
One of my boys that I recommended has been awarded 
the D. S. C. I am so happy I could almost clap him on 
the back, but have to be very dignified while I am acting 
company commander. f. r. a. 

October 21 
I have just five minutes to drop you a line before going 
to Reveille. You see the way we work it — Reveille at 

[ ^^9 ] 



O'T^THE FIELD OF HOl^R 

6.45 and Lieutenant Richards and I take turns holding it. 
He sleeps until breakfast is announced by a tap at the door 
one morning and I the same the next. It is now twenty 
minutes of seven and the big red sun is just popping over 
the horizon. A wonderful snappy October day. I have our 
fire crackling and by the sizzling in the kitchen I should 
say the fried eggs and bacon and coffee were doing well 
also. Gee, this is the most wonderful fun I have ever had in 
my life, much better than school, because you are teaching 
others, not sitting on a bench and letting some one hand 
out lectures on subjects you already have heard one hun- 
dred and ninety-nine times. 

Well, I am a bit stiff from reconnoitering yesterday 
afternoon. Kia will tell you all about it. It was so funny 
I laughed every time I woke up in the night and felt too 
stiff to turn over. But I give the boys five minutes of 
physical at Reveille and that will take it out of me, surely. 
I wish you could see the warm sun streaming in the win- 
dow — but I know you had the same sun at breakfast this 
morning and that Dad probably had Kia pull down the 
curtains a bit. f. r. a. 

During the drive in the Argonne the officer com- 
manding the one-pounder gun section had been killed. 
At school in Langes Larry had studied the one-pounder, 
so that in the reorganization of the 109th, after the drive 

1 110 ] 



CHATTET(^XI 

on Oct. 23rd, Larry was transferred from G Company 
to Headquarters Company of the regiment to take com- 
mand of the one-pounders. It is just after the transfer 
that he writes this next letter. 

October 23 
It was as great a surprise as to be recommended for 
a First Lieutenant, but I am very happy because the one- 
pounders have a wonderful opportunity and, if handled 
correctly, can save hundreds of lives of the Infantry boys 
when obstacles present themselves. One thing, you are 
absolutely free and so to speak on your own hook, be- 
cause no one knows much about the one-pounder and 
you can train your men according to your own plan, and 
it is really up to you to advise the Colonel when and 
where you think the one-pounder can be of the greatest 
service. f. r. a. 

October 28 
Just a line before turning in to say that my new job 
is a corker and is coming along finely. We go to the 
range almost every afternoon, and each day the little guns 
seem more accurate. We have just moved into a new 
town, in fact, we never stay in one more than a week. 
We had a sixteen mile hike and not one man in my pla- 
toon lagged behind. We had breakfast at 3.30 a.m., left 

C III ] 



OlS^THE FI8LD OF HO'^QR 

town about 5, and pulled into our new quarters at 1 sharp. 
So you see what splendid condition we are in, and as for 
equipment, every man has the very best. 

The Y.M.C.A. system is wonderful. Each division, 
regiment, and battalion has its Y. M. C. A. growing smaller 
as the unit descends. The Y. M. C. A. man moves right 
with his unit and gets his supplies by truck from the unit 
higher up. For example, when we moved into this town 
at 1 , relieving a French unit at 6, our Y. M. C. A. man had 
a large house fitted up, fire crackling on the hearth, piano 
with boys clustered around singing, tables to write on, 
and all kinds of cookies, candies, hot chocolate, smokes, 
etc., at his canteen. All in one afternoon. Then, in one 
afternoon, if we move nearer, he packs up and moves 
with us and sets up shop the same way. Then in the front 
line the candies are sent around and the writing paper 
and the smokes three or four times a week, and he has 
a big dug-out, accessible to all, and marches up and down 
the line with his pack of goodies on his back f. r. a. 

The next letter is one Larry wrote to a friend in refer- 
ence to being sent back to the States as an instructor. 

October 28 
I just want to tell you the real truth. I would be heart- 
broken to be sent home and not go through this winter's 

c 112 1 



CHATTET^XI 

campaign at the front with the Infantry boys. Nowadays, 
one wants to be where they will be of the greatest ser- 
vice, and we young kids are very badly needed, right 
here, now. 

Good men without their leaders suffer much, and just 
by being present, although you don't do or say much, 
you can perhaps save a hundred lives. I was in the battle 
of the Argonne continuously going forward with my boys 
for fourteen days, and I felt just as good afterwards as I 
have ever felt in my life. It is true, youth is what counts 
most over here, and the older men, with greater military 
knowledge and experience, count for most as instructors 
at home. 

Every day the morning papers bring us the best of 
news, but we over here have no desire for the war to 
end until Germany can give proof of her unconditional 
surrender, because our Allies have suffered too much. 

I am just having a great old time, although you will 
find when I come home that war will not have changed 
me a single bit. It is just calm thinking and definite action 
which makes a man worth more, and it makes one under- 
stand and love friend and foe alike. f. r. a. 

October 31 
To-morrow begins a new month. This one just passed 
has been wonderful in every way. Somehow the seasons 

C 113 ] 



aiS^THE FIELD OF HOISQR 

seem to merge in one another without one being able to 
notice it. The leaves are falling and the smell of autumn 
and frost in the early morning show that winter is coming 
on, and yet the days are lovely, and so invigorating it is 
a joy to drill and exercise. Is n't it a coincidence.^ Yester- 
day my six months on foreign soil was exactly completed, 
and yesterday evening my runner brought me my com- 
mission as First Lieutenant. So if I were to march in to 
supper to-night at J. P., I would have silver bars, black 
braid on the cuff of my long overcoat, also a gold service 
stripe on my left sleeve for six months' service, and a red 
keystone on my left shoulder because that is our divisional 
insignia. 

But as I sit in my little French cottage, looking out at 
the chrysanthemums and the autumn garden, you would 
see me with nothing to ornament except good health. 
Rank, etc. are nothing ; what counts is to be able to give 
what is expected of a man with authority, reputation, ex- 
perience, education, and bringing up. As Ruthie wrote me 
in yesterday's mail, — *' Go forth into the busy world and 
love it. Interest yourself in its joys and sorrows. Try 
what you can do for men rather than what you can make 
them do for you — and you will know what it is to have 
men and boys your own better than if you were their 
king and master." f. r. a. 



CHATTE%^XI 

October 26 

Am sitting right up close to our little stove and from 
a pile of wood in the corner I add piece by piece to keep 
the little home cheery. 

I am no longer lonely, for the spirit which comes across 
the water reminds me of those at home giving the greater 
sacrifice and never saying lonely. 

I rode down to my old home ( G Company ) this after- 
noon and had supper, and then rode back at a slow trot 
under the stars. They make you think and want to do 
good. We went on the range this afternoon, and I find I 
h^ve four good guns and four good gun crews all organ- 
ized and ready for action. I am so encouraged because 
I want to do something with these little guns. We may 
be going up to-morrow and I want to fire my guns to kill 
German Machine-Gun Nests. 

I am going to get my heart and soul into the new work 
and learn to love the boys the same as I loved the boys 
of Company G, for otherwise it is hard to kill many Ger- 
mans. 

As I sit by my fire, I just want to say a word about the 
Private who does the fighting. You and I owe him a lot; 
to-night he is sleeping in a big barn with great shell holes 
in the roof, very, very cold. To-morrow he is up at six 
and stands in line for half an hour to get a dish of oat- 
meal and sits on the curb to eat it. At eight, at my com- 

C 115 ] 



0%^THE FIELD OF HOISQR 

mand, he drags the gun over hills and valleys, fingers 
cold. The day after, on my command, he fights all day 
and sleeps in the mud and rain in the woods or trenches 
and perhaps gets killed and forgotten, because (it is hard 
to say and believe ) in an advance that faithful soul and 
true is forgotten and perhaps buried after two or three 
days, but I feel sure God knows the work of all His chil- 
dren and will comfort the mother. The mother of a Pri- 
vate has the right to be very, very proud, for it is he who 
is standing against evil on the side of Right. f. r. a. 



1 



C 116 3 



CHAPTER XII 

ON the morning of November nth, the 109th went 
into action once more. They attacked a portion of 
the German line at Haumont beyond St. Mihiel. Ever 
since the St. Mihiel drive in September the Germans had 
been busy strengthening their new line, and the position 
which the 109th was to assault was exceptionally strongly 
entrenched and defended. 

Ordinarily in an attack the one-pounders followed the 
Infantry. Their position was usually somewhat behind 
the first wave , and when the Infantry were forced to 
stop because c machine-gun fire which they could not 
silence, the one-pounders were brought into action to 
knock out the M'G' nests. But in this attack Larry had 
his guns in the very first wave — a position much more 
perilous than the one-pounders usually took, but one in 
which Larry felt he could use his guns to the best ad- 
vantage, for he could get into action quicker and prob- 
ably save many lives in the Infantry by silencing the 
German machine guns the moment they opened fire. It 
was the first time the 109th had attacked with the one- 
pounders in the first line. 

Shortly after the attack commenced, heavy fire from 
an enemy strong point held up the advance. Larry led a 
couple of his one-pounders and some machine guns and 
went ahead, leaving the main body of our troops. He ad- 

[ >I7 ] 



O^THE FIELD OF HO'MOR 

vanced right onto the German line and opened fire with 
his guns. Before long the supply of ammunition gave out 
and Larry was isolated with his small group — cut off 
almost within the enemy's line. Only his quick wit saved 
the lives of his men. He sent men back for a new supply 
of ammunition. A German officer called on the group to 
surrender, showing they were almost surrounded. Larry, 
hoping the Germans had not been able to ascertain his 
real position and numbers because of the heavy mist, 
shouted back a demand that the Germans themselves 
surrender as they were in the Americans' power. For 
some few minutes he was able to hold the enemy's atten- 
tion in a parley so that they did not open fire, though the 
few Americans were without ammunition and entirely at 
the Germans' mercy. Then his men came up with more 
ammunition and Larry, quickly getting the guns into 
action, silenced the strong point. 

By this time the attention of the whole German line 
had been attracted, and from both flanks concentrated 
machine-gun fire was poured into the little group. Larry 
withdrew his men, himself the last to leave, fearlessly 
exposing himself so that he might place the men under 
cover. He was mortally wounded, but would accept no 
aid for himself. He directed the dressing of his men's 
wounds and their evacuation and, despite his own fatal 
wound, did not allow a first aid man to touch him until 

C 118 ] 



CHATTET^^XII 

every one of his men, even the most slightly wounded, 
had been cared for. To the last Larry had absolutely no 
thought of self. Just as all his life his one great purpose 
had been to do for others, to make others happy, at the 
end his only consideration w^as to help those in need and 
disregard his own great want. 

Larry wrote in one of his letters that a " Star of Happi- 
ness" seemed to be guiding him from one happy place 
to another. That Star was his own bright, happy per- 
sonality. Every place he went was happy because he him- 
self was always cheerful; no matter how dark the out- 
look to others, Larry saw only the good. His brave cheer- 
fulness lent itself to all with whom he came in contact, 
he was an inspiration to every one that knew him. I re- 
member that just before he came back to the regiment 
from school I had been rather discouraged over my work. 
When Larry got back I went to see him, and after an 
hour with him I felt strengthened and refreshed — he 
seemed to emanate vitality and hopefulness. 

Larry's great ideal was Service. His one desire, as he 
says in his letters, was to be where he could be of the 
greatest service. His very high sense of duty made him 
doubt his own ability; he prayed he might be worthy of 
the trust reposed in him. How completely he fulfilled the 
trust, we all know. 

c n9 n 



O'T^THE FIELD OF H01(gR 

It is hard for those who were not in the line to appre- 
ciate the difference in Larry's attitude from that of most 
of the officers sent from the front to school. Though 
they did some work, they looked on the school as a rest 
and a chance to have a good time which they had earned. 
But Larry saw only the opportunity to devote himself 
most diligently to study, so that he might play his part 
equally with his men that he left back on the line fight- 
ing. He worked with his whole heart and soul to get 
all possible instruction from the school which he could 
turn to the advantage of his "boys" when he got back 
to them. 

Larry possessed the rare combination of indomitable 
courage, of utter fearlessness, and of loving care and ten- 
der solicitude for his men. One of his letters, written just 
after the Argonne drive, says, — " I brought back no sou- 
venirs, no tales, only my boys well, happy, and alive— 
as many as I possibly could." He constantly cared for 
their comfort and welfare, yet when the time came in 
battle that he must risk all he never hesitated, but pushed 
ahead, his own life always the first hazarded. 

By his simplicity and tenderness, Larry won the love 
of the French people everywhere he went. I remember 
his often telling me that he for one was going to do 
everything in his power to give the French a good idea 
of the American soldier. He loved the children and was 

C 120 ] 



CHATTE%^Xn 

constantly doing little acts of kindness for them, playing 
they were his own brother and sister at home. 

Larry was intensely proud and happy to be able to 
stand up for his ideals, to be fighting for a cause in which 
he so thoroughly beheved. He says, "In this game as a 
platoon leader the chances are pretty good of being 
killed, but it is the dandiest of them all." And later, "It 
is easy to see that one man's life is nothing, if it came to 
making a sacrifice for this high cause." His greatest joy 
was his love and attachment for his men. He writes of 
those in his platoon who fell in action on the Vesle, — 
"They had a spirit of love that can never die." Larry 
himself most perfectly exemplified that spirit, and among 
all who knew him his "spirit of love" will forever keep 
his memory bright. 



121 ] 



CITATION FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS 

Lieut. Frjlncis Reed Ausmx led a platoon of madune gims 
and two onewpounder gims with th«r crews under cover of 
a fc^ widiin the enemy's fines and attacked at dose range a 
strong point hekl b\ 25 m«i and 10 madune guns. 

After this position had been reduced, concentrated nia- 
chine-gun lire fiv>m the flanks ftwced Lieut. Austin and his 
parrv- to withdraw. Exposing himself in order to place his 
men under co^■e^, Lieut. Austin was mortally wounded but 
he directed the dressin;^ of the wounds of his men and their 
evacuadon before he would accept aid for himself. 



A Poem dedicated to Franxis Reed Austin 
by William F. Manley, one of his Classmates 

TO A COMRADE 

/ cannot think that yon -will not return^ 

For you were ever one who seemed a part 

Of all the joy and laughter of my ivorld. 

I cannot feel that your brave., patient heart 

Is quiet. That the twilight dropping doxvn 

Enfolds you., and the earth in which you lie 

So silently. That you hear not the wind — 

Feel not the sunlit hours passing by. 

These things you knew., and ever sought to find 

The beauty that lay hidden — made the knave 

A knight., the darkness into day., 

Tour world into a gentle place and brave. 

Dead? Silent? Tlien the dust must have a tongue 

Clearer than all the unleashed xvinds of night., 

For you have come to 7ne and spoken clear.. 

And I have seen the laughter and the light 

Tliat xuere your souPs and not your body's. Tou 

Who zvere my comrade -will not cease to be 

My dearest comrade., closer than before. 

Cannot I hear your voice beyond the sea P 

And if your strong young heart has ceased its beating 

And sleeps beneath the meadow flowers'^ smile., 

Did not your soul see some great light., and meeting 

Its comrades there., linger a little -while; 

Watching us patient as we tread the years 

Tl\at lead us ever to you., can we dare 

To shrink from death or think your absence long., 

Knowing that you are ever waiting there? 



